I joined the Navy in February 1957. I was 17 years old and Pukaki was my first ship after training. My position was Radar Operator. We kept an eye on other ships and patrolled the area, and did weather testing. When we weren’t doing that we were doing all the chipping and painting – all the normal things that sailors did.
I was at Grapple for four tests. It was Operation Z which were the biggest bombs of the series and there were four detonations. As a young person my outlook was that it was a very exciting time. I was looking forward to seeing the bombs. I remember seeing the mushroom go up, and the colours go up to the top, and the aircraft nipping in and out of the mushroom. We had our backs to the explosion, and we could hear the count down and then the count back up. You felt the heat up your back and that’s when you saw the bones of your hands.
We had the fire hoses on sprinkle to wash away anything from the bombs when they detonated. The ship took in water, and we boiled the salt out of it to get fresh water, but sometimes this was in the area where there had been a bomb blast.
We went ashore to the canteen at Christmas Island which was quite fun, but there were lots of boring stretches in between the tests. I remember bananas hung up on the quarter deck and fishing being the only outlet.
Pukaki was a happy ship and a good crew. I was disappointed that we didn’t get due recognition from the government, and Veterans Affairs opposed us all the way.
My daughter was born severely disabled. She had a hole in her heart, cerebral palsy and was never able to sit up in her lifetime. She lived to her mid-forties. Many of us have seen our offspring suffer and their children too.
I was in the Navy for eight years as my time started when I turned 18. Nothing was counted before you turned 18.
I have been the President of the Napier RSA since 2006, and in 2019 I was awarded the Queens Service Medal for service to the RSA community in Napier.