SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Friday was the first National Day of Remembrance for Downwinders.
Downwinders are those, including many Utahns, who were exposed to nuclear bomb tests more than a half century ago.
In the 1950's and 60's, the U.S. Government conducted nuclear bomb tests at a Nevada test site.
The radioactive fallout blew downwind, covering Southern Utah and other parts of the state.
Those in its way suffered disease, cancer and even death.
Friday, there was an emotional Downwinder ceremony at the state capitol.
At first, the U.S. Government said the tests and radioactive fallout were safe.
But then came the unusually high number of cancers, thyroid problems and eventually deaths.
Mary Dickson, a Downwinder, told ABC 4,
"I look at all the Downwinders I've worked with over the years and how many of them are just too sick to come here. How many of them have passed."
It took the government decades to admit it was wrong, decades to compensate victims and decades to create a National Day of Remembrance.
Rep. Jim Matheson spoke at Friday’s ceremony and said,
"We now know the real story. We know that the government lied."
If you've never heard Congressman Jim Matheson this emotional, he's got a good reason.
His dad, Utah's former governor, was a Downwinder who died of cancer.
61 years to the day of the first atomic test in Nevada, Utah's few surviving Downwinders gathered at the capitol.
They did so to remember those who have been lost and to remind those still living.
As Downwinder Darlene Phillips put it,
"Just because these weapons seem to be in the past doesn't mean they'll stay in the past. Because as our memories fade, we think, oh, we can do this again."
