John "Pat" Haase spent several years in the US Navy, and then spent several decades trying to get the VA benefits to compensate him for the health issues that were percipitated by his exposure to excessive radiation from performing his duties as a Navy diver.In 1958, he was on duty very close to the spot where the Government was teasing nuclear bombs in the South Pacific. His task was to retrieve equipment off a radiation-contaminated barge that was sinking. When he returned to his ship, he was checked for radiation with a geiger counter. The reading showed that he was contaminated with so much radiation that it should have killed him.Although he has had health problems from the radiatin for decades, the VA has consistently denied that the radiation was the problem. "Pat" Haase lives with his wife, Ardith, in Homeland, California.