Blood brothers

SALUTING smartly outside Number 10, veterans yesterday fired the opening shot of a legal battle against the Government.

- SUSIE BONIFACE

Brian Unthank, 86, and Terry Quinlan, 85, wore shorts and boots, the same clothing they had to protect them from Cold War nuclear bomb tests.

Survivors of Operation Grapple, their lives have been blighted ever since serving at Christmas Island in 1958.

They say blood taken during the trials may prove they were irradiated, but that test results are illegally withheld.

They delivered legal papers and a petition to Downing Street calling for an end to their 70-year campaign for the truth.

Brian has had 90 skin cancers removed and has two more awaiting removal. His first wife had 13 late-term miscarriages and his living children have problems with their eyes and internal organs. A grandson had a malignant melanoma as a baby.