Here is an eyewitness account about living on Tuto East
Arrived the first time at Tuto the first week of January 62.
Stayed there almost 6 months. Some people refer to a ice cave when they talk about Tuto. Don't know anything about a ice cave. But off to the left of ramp road [ the road that takes you onto the ice cap] was a tunnel cut into the edge of the ice cap.
Can't remember just how big the tunnel was but the same buildings we lived in at Tuto & Century were in the tunnel and we drove a vehicle into the tunnel.
Had one building for a small mess hall and day room area & a few for living quarters. Don't know how many other buildings there were. New two of the guys that stayed there and they showed me around.
Took me to a side tunnel. Told me they were storing diesel fuel there. Not in barrels, it was pored into a pit.
At the end of the trench was a raised wall about two feet high across the trench. When you shined a light behind the wall all you saw was the fuel. Don't know how deep it was or how much was there.
Several years ago I read an article that said fuel was coming from the ice cap and no one knew where it was coming from.
Was at Century in 63. Had a reactor. The people who worked directly with it had on badges to detect radiation. But the rest of us were told nothing.
Every one lived within a few hundred yards of the reactor. Never once were told anything about the radiation or any safety precautions that should be taken.
Was 19 than.
We would get drunk and walk to the reactor. It was a big metal container with lead bricks around it.
At that time the top had a cover several feet across and it was off. You could look right down into the water and see where the core was.
Top side they had a container, international orange. It said if the core was ever taken out it had to stay there for a certain period of time.
Had some type of seal from the Danish Government on it.
At that time was the core in the reactor? or top side? Mentioned this to several people on line and got a e-mail from some one who said he was there working on the reactor.
Said I made up the entire story. The person said he still works with reactors for the government.
Several years ago I got a e-mail from the daughter of some one I was stationed there with. Her father had recently died from cancer. And he thought he might have gotten it there. She was trying to do some research to see how many people that served there had cancer.
Gave her all the info I had. Had never once thought about ever getting cancer from being around the reactor.
But guess what. About 2 years before getting her e-mail I had an surgery, radiation and chemo twice for colon cancer.
Have no idea if it is related but it makes me think about it.
Had just turned 18 when I made my first tour. Every thing there was just one big joke to me.
Some guys had a hard time handling the situation there but I had one big party.
If you weren't working there was the movie or get loaded at the club.
I found something else to do. I would get a vehicle and snoop around and see where all the supplies were kept.
If it was in one of our camps or nearby I could find it.
Here follows the "official story"
By the later part of 1963, justification for operating Camp Tuto through out the winter had been reduced to supporting the US Army Radio Propagation Agency's year round requirement for communications data from Northern Greenland.
Because of the complex nature of Camp Tuto, a minimum crew of 85 men was required to operate and maintain the camp during the arctic winter.
Thought was given to relocating the Radio Propagation Agency's transmitting and receiving equipment to Thule.
This idea was abandoned because the high radio noise level at Thule would have interfered with the gathering of research data.
A considerable cost reduction was envisioned by erecting a consolidated 50 man winter camp designed to operate for 5 years during the winter period from October to April.
It would then be available on standby as a research base camp for future operations.
By mid October 1964 the 50 man winter camp was operational. Unfortunately the Radio Propagation Project was terminated in 1966 (due to a change in mission), and the camp was used for only one winter. |
|
