The U.S. military failed to compensate thousands of soldiers who were secretly exposed to mustard gas during its most toxic experiments as promised, according to an NPR investigation.
Exposure to the sulphur mustards left some gas masked participants like Charlie Cavell, then 19 years old, blistered and burned while trapped inside heated gas chambers during World War II.
He was given two weeks vacation for spending one week at the Naval Research Laboratory, a week that has left him traumatized for life.
“We weren't told what it was until we got into the process of actually being in that room,” Cavell told NPR. “There was no door ... doorknobs, doorknobs. And that's what I have problems with today. I go to a locked door, I panic sometimes to try to get out.”