Interview with Sandra Evans Walsh, Downwinders of Utah Archive, May 30, 2019. Includes edits by interviewee.

Update Item Information
Title Interview with Sandra Evans Walsh, Downwinders of Utah Archive, May 30, 2019. Includes edits by interviewee.
Creator Walsh, Sandra Evans
Contributor Sorensen, Justin
Date 2019-05-30
Subject Nuclear weapons Testing; Nuclear weapons--United States--Testing; Nuclear weapons testing victims; Nuclear weapons--United States--Testing; Radioactive fallout
Description Transcript (10 pages) of an in-person interview conducted by Justin Sorensen with Sandra Evans Walsh at the J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah in Salt Lake City on May 30, 2019. Walsh discusses growing up in Parowan, Utah where her elementary school teacher led the students outside to watch the orange cloud of a nuclear test to "watch history." She lost two of her friends who were age 12 or 13. She recalls that people of Parowan were very nervous and worried about the nuclear testing but were told to open doors and windows if a nuclear bomb goes off. She lost her parents and 13 siblings who died from cancer, and 3 infant daughters from diseases caused by the radiation poisoning. She and her surviving 2 daughters also had cancer. She actively assisted over 5,000 people to receive government compensation and participated in political campaigns of representatives who worked to get Downwinders government compensation. She describes the difficult and slow moving process of trying to receive compensation. She also describes the experience of nuclear testing being conducted and how it affected her family and their livestock.
Type Text
Genre oral histories (literary works)
Format application/pdf
Extent 10 pages
Language eng
Rights
Is Part of Everett L. Cooley Oral History Project
ARK ark:/87278/s6hq8s4r
Setname uum_dua
ID 1470935
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6hq8s4r