LETTER TO THE EDITOR – WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

“You can’t live with them!”  WSJ reporter, Logan Wroge, recorded these words of Franklin Grahlf, a US Navy veteran, on the first anniversary of the “UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” Franklin Grahlf was exposed to atomic radiation when his Navy crew, with no protective gear, was ordered to sail to “ground zero” to investigate the consequences of an atomic weapon test in the Bikini Atoll.

Franklin, 99, has lived a long life.  But he has had multiple bouts of cancer and the loss of two children, who he feels were affected by his radiation exposure.  His plea is that “the countries of the world need to get rid of nuclear weapons.”

In 1983 the Madison City Council passed an ordinance declaring the city a “nuclear free zone" In 2019 the Council passed a resolution calling for this nation to "live up to US obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty by seeking to eliminate all nuclear weapons ....” 

Yet Madison now is accepting a squadron (20) of F-35s that will eventually be capable of transporting two nuclear warheads. Whether or not these B61-12 bombs are ever onsite, Madison will become a potential target in a nuclear confrontation.

What happened?

Jane H Kavaloski

Madison, Wisconsin