This was a pretty small (two kiloton) air-burst nuke, so I bet these five guys were all pretty much fine. NPR did some research and it seems like they mostly died of old age:
Alex looked, and here's what he found:
- Col. Sidney C. Bruce -- died in 2005 (age 86)
- Lt. Col. Frank P. Ball -- died in 2003 (age 83)
- Maj. John Hughes -- very common name, but I'm guessing he is Maj. John W. Hughes II (born 1919, same as the above) -- died in 1990 (age 71)
- Maj. Norman Bodinger -- unclear (not listed in the database), he may still be alive?
- Don Lutrel -- I think this is a misspelling of "Luttrell." There is a Donald D. Luttrell in the DVA database, US Army CPL, born 1924, died 1987 (age 63). Seems like a possibility.
(HT: Gizmodo, who can't resist making historically ignorant comments.)
