[MamaB]

I have a relative who flew on bombers during bomb testing. He is having all sorts of health problems due to that. He was on one when a lambskin coat caught on fire in the cockpit.

[muawiyah]

Buddy of mine was a B-52 pilot. He developed a problem in his shoulder and thought it might be related to his service. Turns out there were a gazillion switches to flip overhead in the versions in use in the late 60s. Reaching up and flipping the switches damaged the friction points in his shoulderblades.

This is/was a common problem related to a B-52 configuration at a certain point in time. However, there are supposedly many others.

If you look in Time/Life Book's coverage of WWII, you may find an overhead shot taken at Ground Zero in Hiroshima. In it you'll see an Asian-American guy in US uniform standing right there in the remains of that steel and concrete building that partly survived the blast.

He was an intelligence officer at the time, doing translating for MacArthur, et al. This was his family's old hometown.

He later on died of leukemia. At that time folks had little understanding of what radiation did to the human body.