Not the GP but I’ll answer on their behalf:
- https://uk.news.yahoo.com/us-military-once-detonated-nuclear... (5 volunteers stood directly below a detonation)
> In the aftermath, the five men shake hands, congratulating each other.
> "My only regrets right now," Col. Bruce says, "are that everybody couldn't have been out here at ground zero with us."
- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-securit... (Around 22,000 British servicemen, along with soldiers from New Zealand and Fiji, took part in the tests)
> Safety guidance on the day was, he recalls, scarce: personnel were advised to wear a hat and make sure their sleeves were rolled down. The men were then ordered to “sit down with your back towards the blast area and cover your eyes.”
> Despite assurances given at the time that the tests posed little risk to health (via radiation exposure), a significant number of veterans went on to experience significant repercussions.
- https://www.livescience.com/1698-atomic-bomb-test-exposed-ci... (First Atomic Bomb Test Exposed U.S. Civilians to Radiation)
> Because of its importance in the war, the Trinity test was conducted in secret. Little was known about the dangers of radiation exposure in the 1940s, so local residents were not warned or evacuated in advance of—or even following—the test. As a result, people in surrounding areas were exposed to radiation by breathing contaminated air, eating contaminated foods, and drinking affected water and milk. Some ranches were located within 15 miles of ground zero, and commercial crops were grown nearby.
The stories about these are not romanticised. They’re conveying our ignorance. There is nothing romantic about people dying from radiation.