Atomic veteran
![Replica of the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945](/Images/godic/202412/22/Fat_man4728.jpg")
Atomic veterans are United States military veterans who were exposed to ionizing radiation while stationing in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the American occupation of Japan before 1946 (including certain veterans who were prisoners of war there) and thousands of servicemen who took part in atmospheric nuclear tests (1945-1962).