70th anniversary of atomic bomb test a source of pride, anger

This July 16, 1945 photo, shows the mushroom cloud of the first atomic explosion at Trinity Test Site, New Mexico (AP)

The unknown blast came during rainy season in the desolate New Mexico desert. Most residents of the historic Hispanic village of Tularosa had no phones or radios. So when word spread that Army officials said it was just an ammunition explosion, anxious residents relaxed despite the raining ash. It wasn't until after the U.S. announced it had dropped an atomic bomb on Japan that Tularosa residents learned scientists from the then-secret city of Los Alamos successfully exploded the first atomic bomb at the nearby Trinity Site on July 16, 1945. "It was a source of pride," Tina Cordova, a former Tularosa resident whose father was 3 years old when the Trinity test was conducted. It later became a source of anger after residents suffered various cancers and they soon began to blame the test for the fallout. Thursday marks the 70th anniversary of the Trinity Test in southern New Mexico. It comes New Mexico is holding various commemorative events on the test and as Tularosa residents say press for acknowledgement and compensation from the U.S. government. Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders, said the aftermath caused rare forms of cancer for many of the 30,000 residents in the area surrounding Trinity. She said residents weren't told about the site's dangers and often picnicked there and took artifacts, including the radioactive green glass known as "trinitite." Researchers from the National Cancer Institute are studying past and present cancer cases in New Mexico that might be related to the Trinity Test. "It's not about anti-nuclear protests," said Cordova, a former Tularosa resident and cancer survivor. "We want recognition from the U.S. government that they did this to us, that they came here and did this test. And that they walked away and left us for 70 years to deal with it on our own."...more