Camp Garcia, Puerto Rico

The following is a personal story submitted to Civilian Exposure and published as part of our new series: “Contamination Chronicles: Personal Stories of Exposure”. If you would like to submit your story, you may fill out our form here or send directly via email to share-@-civilianexposure.org.

I found out about this base myself in the last few years. I was researching online to see if I could find pictures of it. The base is Camp Garcia, Vieques, Puerto Rico. While I was researching, I found out about all the terrible things that had been dropped in bombings and things they tested during war games.

The area I was in when on the island was close to the bombing range where the jets practiced bombing. I remember telling another Marine one day, “I sure hope they don’t misjudge and drop one of those on top of us!” It shocked me when I found out some of the things they used down there. The Puerto Rican people hated us when I was down there and now I know why. A lot of them are coming down with cancers and other things. You can look up Project Shad and Project 112 and find out about them.

I was as disgusted about what went on down there by the government as I am by what happened at Camp Lejeune. I was trained in procedures to decontaminate troops during nuclear and biological warfare when I was down there.                     

Thank you for listening to my story. I hope all people affected can get what they deserve. Thank you again for what you do at Civilian Exposure.  Semper Fi

Note from the Editor: The account/editorial is verbatim from the author without edit, with only the omission of their name to preserve anonymity. Also, the following is an additional VA resource page on Project Shad exposure.