WATERTOWN, S.D.(KXLG)- U.S. Senator Mike Rounds was in Watertown Monday to present a well-deserved honor to a 93-year-old Veteran of the United States Army, Clifford J. Lindner, for his efforts and received the Atomic Veterans Commemorative Service Medal and Atomic Veterans Commemorative Service Certificate for his participating in Operation Upshot-Knothole.
Lindner was in the United States Army from May 13, 1952, through May 12, 1954. In May 1953, while stationed at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, Lindner and the 249th Military Police Company were deployed to the Nevada Proving Grounds, where his unit participated in Camp Desert Rock V and was billeted at Camp Desert Rock. During this period of the Cold War, numerous atomic weapons tests were conducted at Nevada Proving Grounds to study how effective our military could be after an atomic event.
Senator Rounds was in studio to talk more about the honor.
The Veterans involved could never speak of their experience.
Rounds confirmed it was all classified.
Rounds says this is the fourth award of its kind that has been presented in South Dakota.
On July 5, 2022, the SECDEF established the Atomic Veterans Commemorative Service Medal to commemorate the service and sacrifice of veterans who were instrumental in the development of our Nation’s atomic and nuclear weapons programs.
Veterans eligible for the medal are those who, while performing official military duties during the period of July 1, 1945, to October 1, 1992: