Pentagon to issue medal to vets of nuclear weapon program

FILE - In this July 6, 1945, file photo, scientists and workmen rig the world’s first atomic bomb to raise it up onto a 100 foot tower at the Trinity bomb test site near Alamagordo, N.M. A compensation program for ...Veterans who faced radiation exposure during the development of the nation’s atomic weapons program were usually sworn to secrecy because of national security requirements during the Cold War.

Now their sacrifices are being recognized with the Pentagon’s establishment of the Atomic Veterans Commemorative Service Medal this week.

The medal, authorized by Congress in a law passed in December, recognizes veterans whose work “directly contributed to our nation’s continued freedom and…