J Robert Oppenheimer was the creator of the world's first atomic bomb, which he tested in a village in New Mexico that still suffers from the explosion nearly eight decades later.
Young Lucy Benavidez Gardwood was tucked up in her bed with her siblings over 78 years ago when she was violently awoken by her family's home being violently shaken after J Robert Oppenheimer tested out his creation of the world's first atomic bomb.
“We were Oppenheimer’s first victims but we still remain last in getting the help we need. We have had not one cent, yet our families have been blighted by cancer and death ever since.” Lucy vividly remembers Oppenheimer's bomb, comparable to around 25,000 tons of TNT, like it was yesterday. She recalls how the world admired the power of the lethal invention amid the celebration of the Second World War ending, leaving Tularosa to suffer in poor health caused by the explosion.
Lucy explains: “It was only when our sheep, goats and chickens began to become ill and die that we started to realise just how exposed we had been. No one ever told us about the bomb. They made us believe it was an ammunition explosive at a nearby military base. They lied and lied to us about what really happened. They still do.
Recent research discovered that within 10 days, the fallout had reached 46 states, Mexico and Canada. It found that the accumulation of radioactive material was greater than was what was proposed under a government compensation programme in 28 of the 33 counties in New Mexico.