My name is Dewey Lowman. I was stationed at George AFB from 1982 to 1989, assigned to the 37th CRS Squadron and then the 35th CRS Squadron. My Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) was 328X4. I worked in the Component Repair building and the 37th CRS mobility building. I lived in the 37 CRS dormitory from 1982 to 1984 then at 3 Cory Blvd. from 1984 to 1989. I married my wife in 1984 she accompanied me from 1984 to 1989.
My wife had trouble for the entire time we were at GAFB. We moved into base housing as soon as we got married. She worked at the High Desert Federal Credit Union on base the whole time she was at the base. Both of us drank the water on base straight from the tap. The swamp cooler in our house used the same unfiltered water. Same water we swam in as much as possible during the hot months. I personally swam a lot to escape the heat while I pulled up all the patchy lawn and replaced it with sod I purchased. I was constantly working on the lawn. Around 1986 she started having what was found to be thyroid disease. She went hyper-thyroid. The doctors on base got her into the naval hospital and they radiated her thyroid. She has taken drugs ever since. Then about 1989, we tried to get pregnant. The caring physicians never said anything about dangers in the water, or not to get pregnant. We ended up losing the baby. The doctors on base would not DNC the malformed fetus. It was a long and painful experience. At that time, we started hearing about water quality and started buying water to fill a cooler. We used it until we left California. Then in 1989, we left and she got pregnant right before we left. We PCS’d to Germany where we had a healthy baby girl.
We have been retired for so long that I didn’t think about getting our records, or if they still have everything. No one from the DOD, Air Force, or the Dept. of Veterans Affairs ever notified us of possible toxic exposure at George AFB? This is all so depressing to learn my Air Force might have done this to my wife.
I am sorry to hear about your wife’s problems there. I just put my story up. The bad part about all of this is that a whole lot of people are deceased its been so long. They owe us. We all served loyally. Including kids and families. From what I have found and read it was not just the water, but the dirt as well. And also the lead paint thing. We were at GAFB 1961-68. My dad was stationed there with mom and us 7 kids. We all have weird rare things and types of cancer at very young ages. We need to pool together and take another shot at it. Since the courts threw the one case out. This is a crime. Especially since they knew it decades ago and still transferred people into GAFB with no heads up nothing. This is America. No man left behind! They need to be made accountable.