I don't know where to start, or if this is the right sub. he died 18 months ago. here's what I know, and what I want to know.

My dad, best friend in the entire world, partner in crime, and hero joined the Navy at 18 years old in 1960. He went to Great Lakes and served during Vietnam and claimed he was a meteorologist. I say claimed, because when I mention this to certain family, they scoff and laugh in a way as if to say "yeah, he just didn't want to tell you what he actually did. So keep believing he played with weather balloons. You're cute". I never saw any paperwork, just black and white, very weathered pictures. I didn't come around until much much later in his life, when he was a softer, much gentler version of his service days. I know some of his stories of his service days, but I knew later stages of life dad, not middle age dad. I know he lived in Hawaii, New Zealand, Japan, and other places during the (I believe) 11 years of his service

I want to know what he actually did, and even better, what experiment he was a Guinea Pig for. At some point in his service, he was exposed to mass amounts of radiation and explosives out on a platform in the pacific. He was told to "just watch the explosion and tell us what happens". He said his eyes rolled in the back of his head and afterward, during the cloud, he saw through himself. It was confirmed in 2008 that this testing caused his cancer. It was confirmed in 2014 that this caused his reoccurrence of his cancer, and that it would kill him. It killed him in 2016.

I don't know where to look for answers. The VA, while absolutely incredible in helping him medically and in other ways at the end of his life, and an enormous help to my mom still, doesn't have that information for me (or it's just not available to me, I'm not sure)

I don't know where to search or who to ask, I just know I'm curious and would love to know more about what he really did. If he was a meteorologist--awesome! If not, cool--I just want to know more.

Thank you.