Atomic Veterans Records

Sandra Kane Marlow was born on December 18, 1932 in New York City to Nicholas and Rose Kane, both Jewish immigrants from Europe. She has one younger sister, Stephanie. A “military brat,” Kane moved with her family all over the United States while her father Colonel Kane was in the Air Force. He retired in 1955. Marlow graduated from Flushing High School, New York, in 1951 and graduated with a BA from Adelphi College, Garden City, New York, in 1955, as well as a MA in Art from U.C. Davis in 1965 and a Masters in Library Science (MLS) from University of Rhode Island in 1979.

Marlow married Harry C. Taylor and they had one daughter Alisa Taylor. From her second marriage with James Marlow she has a son, Benjamin Marlow. She worked as an art teacher in several schools in several states. After receiving her MLS, she worked as institutional librarian at Southeastern Correctional Center, an all-male prison in southeastern Massachusetts. Marlow fought for government acknowledgement and compensation of United States veterans that participated in atmospheric and underwater nuclear weapons tests and nuclear cleanup from 1945 until the Nuclear Test Ban in 1962.

When her father became ill from cancer in 1977, she began to search for answers about his exposure to nuclear explosives and illness and those of other veterans. Before he retired in 1955, he witnessed nuclear weapon tests at Camp Desert Rock, Nevada. Prior to that, in 1948, Colonel Nicholas Kane had been assigned to one of the first radiological safety courses at Treasure Island, California. He and other military personnel studied contaminated ships from the 1946 Pacific tests, called Operation Crossroads. In her quest, Marlow discovered other veterans and their families who had been exposed during the Cold War and learned that many others had a difficult time accessing information regarding exposure to nuclear weapons. Three years after her father died of leukemia in 1977, Marlow became an active member of the National Association of Atomic Veterans (NAAV) founded by Wanda and Orville Kelly. She served as its medical co-chair for many years.

Later, she joined the National Association of Radiation Survivors, another organization consisting of nuclear workers, uranium miners and civilians exposed to radiation. Living at that time in the Boston area, Marlow became their Academic Chair and communicated with members of the Federation of American Scientists as well as Doctors for Social Responsibility. With their help she helped organize a small group in the New England area called the Center for Atomic Radiation Studies (CARS). CARS members organized seminars at various universities and provided informational assistance to veterans and their families. They also helped publicize the problem of accessing information from the then Atomic Energy Commission and made the US public aware of the plight of “nuclear victims.”

Marlow has testified before the US Senate on behalf of veterans’ families. Along with members of NAAV and NARS, Marlow has persisted in obtaining government acknowledgement and compensation of American veterans that participated in atmospheric nuclear weapons tests and nuclear cleanup from 1945 until the Nuclear Test Ban in 1962. She has published articles in various journals including the Library Journal and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. She has worked with investigative reporters on nuclear issues since 1977, including the contaminated nuclear ships brought to Treasure Island in 1948. Several of these journalists have won Pulitzer Prizes.