Thick blankets of black smoke regularly drifted over nearby homes while the US occupied Kindley Air Force Base, St. David’s residents recalled yesterday.

Some said they were not surprised to hear former US Army veteran Ronald Slater’s allegations that huge amounts of toxic waste including lethal defoliant Agent Orange were dumped and burned at the base in the 1960s.

People claimed they often had to shut tight all windows and doors to keep out poisonous fumes, while clothes hanging out to dry would become coated in filthy residue.

Meanwhile, one former military man backed up Mr. Slater’s comments about the disposal of hazardous waste by saying he also witnessed the dumping of substances including mercury and hydrochloric acid at Bermuda’s bases.

However, one ex-US Air Force Sergeant at the base in the late 1960s said he found it difficult to believe Agent Orange — now said to cause horrific disfigurements and severe long-term injury to those exposed to it — was ever used.

Earlier this week, The Royal Gazette reported how Mr. Slater, 64, of Washington State, said numerous barrels of the defoliant were poured into deep pits before being burned for days, sending poisonous fumes over St. David’s homes.

Gregory Fox, 50, of St. David’s, said he grew up in a house about 50 yards away from the base and would regularly play in the area as a child.

“I recognise the photographs in the newspaper,” said Mr. Fox. “As a youngster, about eight or ten, I used to play in that area. I lived on the hill. I used to venture down that way.

“It was nothing but blanket smoke from those pits. My mom used to close one side of the house because of it. We had to wash clothes on the line again because of the smoke.

“We always wondered what the heck they were burning there. Mr. Slater is right. It was definitely not cardboard boxes. It wasn’t ordinary trash.

“Those pits are now filled in and they need to do some serious looking because we have been exposed to whatever they burned. I’m worried about it. Mr. Slater is ill. I might end up with health problems in the future.”

A 63-year-old Hamilton Parish resident said: “As a young man I played there and there were big clouds of black smoke. It was regular — I recall seeing lots of clouds. We thought it was a product of something, but we just accepted it as smoke from the base and didn’t think any more.”

Lee Estis, of Arizona, who served in Bermuda from 1958 to 1995, said: “They dumped and burned everything you could imagine down there. I even dumped mercury.”

Fred Beyersdorfer, a US Air Force Sergeant at Kindley from 1967 to 1969, cast doubt over Mr. Slater’s story by questioning why the burning of Agent Orange had not now rendered the area barren.

“I was in the area of the site in the first few days of June this year. It still looks as beautiful to me as it did back in 1967,” he said.

Mr. Beyersdorfer, 60, of Houston, Texas, also said it was unlikely the defoliant would have been dumped in great amounts in the period claimed by Mr. Slater because it was still being used in Vietnam then.

But he added: “But then, the US Government has done many things out of sorts and incongruent over the years.”

Mr. Slater said his role in the disposal of waste was to bulldoze the remains into the sea after burning. He believes his poor health — including Type2 diabetes — is attributable to exposure to Agent Orange.

Fears have been raised that, if the defoliant was dumped in the ground, its dioxins would remain a serious environmental risk today because they are so chemically stable they will not degrade over decades.

Government has been investigating the claims over the past few days. Yesterday, Works and Engineering Permanent Secretary Derrick Binns said past records of testing completed in the area are being examined, while the land is to be re-tested specifically for the presence or absence of Agent Orange and the similar toxin Agent Blue. The tests will be carried out be a qualified organisation.

Minister Dennis Lister has previously stated Mr. Slater’s claims are without foundation and that no evidence has shown Agent Orange was ever in Bermuda.

Maintaining that line yesterday, Dr. Binns said: “We do not anticipate that the current testing will yield results significantly different to those already obtained.”

Did you help dispose of waste at Bermuda’s baselands? Call Tim Smith on 441-278-8359 or email tsmith@royalgazette.bm