The Tragic Aftermath of the Trinity Test

It's truly heartbreaking. On Sunday, July 16, 1945, a group of 13-year-old girls were camping in the United States and swimming in a river near Ruidoso, New Mexico. Barbara Kent is pictured at the top of the photo.
Unbeknownst to them, a nuclear bomb had just been tested just outside the Manhattan Project. This was the Trinity test—the first nuclear explosion in history.
Years after the test, Barbara Kent and her campmates played in the fallout. By the time she turned 30, she had begun to hear about her campmates from that summer getting sick. "I was the only one who survived," she recalled in 2021, adding that she herself had developed several cancers, including endometrial cancer and "all kinds of skin cancer."

(Poster's opinion) I think that since they dropped an atomic bomb on Japan in 1945, it would be better to look at the results in Japan, but they conducted 928 tests in Nevada. They also attracted tourists to watch them (some of whom were victims of the bombing) just like they would at a fireworks display. The desert where the tests were conducted was later used as a location for Western movies, and it's said that actors Steve McQueen and John Wayne developed cancer as a result.

Nevada is home to the Atomic Bomb Museum.

There were a total of 928 announced nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site (now the Nevada National Security Site) between 1951 and 1992, with 100 being conducted above ground and 828 underground. Over these four decades, the site hosted more tests nuclear than any other location in the United States.

Truly heartbreaking. On Sunday, July 16, 1945, a group of thirteen-year-old girls went camping in America, swimming in a river near Ruidoso, New Mexico. The girl pictured at the front is Barbara Kent.

Unbeknownst to them, nearby the Manhattan Project had just detonated a nuclear bomb as a test. This was the Trinity Test, the first ever detonation of a nuclear device.

In the years following the test, Barbara Kent—who had played with fallout along with her fellow campers—began hearing that her fellow campers from that summer had been falling ill. By the time she reached 30, she recalled in 2021: “I was the only survivor of the girls at that camp,” adding that she herself has had several cancers, including endometrial cancer and “all kinds of skin cancer.”