He took part in the government's nuclear test programme in the South Pacific during the 1950s and 1960s.

Whilst serving on the HMS Cossack in 1957, he could count the bones of his own hands through thick protective gloves as he shielded his eyes from the blast of a hydrogen bomb.

Now along with around 1,000 other nuclear test veterans, he is taking the government to court over the skin cancer which he claims is the devastating legacy of the nuclear test.

Mr Fiddaman, now 71, of Downsview Road, Roffey, has been seeking justice for nearly 30 years.

Since developing skin cancer in 1975, he has had more than 200 carcinomas removed from his skin.

But whilst medical advances have made it easier for him to live with the disease, his fight for compensation from the British government has been one long history of disappointment.

Mr Fiddaman and 40 other members of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association made national headlines in 1997, when their fight for compensation took them to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

But their hopes were dashed when judges voted six to three that their rights had not been violated by the MoD's refusal to release documents they believed could assist their claims for compensation.

Tens years on and the atomic veterans' case is again in the public eye, as they are now suing the Ministry of Defence in a class action worth millions.

Mr Fiddaman joined the Royal Navy as a boy seaman in 1952, serving on his first destroyer at the age of 16.

He joined the HMS Cossack in 1957, which acted as a guard ship during the nuclear testing in November.

From 30 miles away crew witnessed the explosion of a 1.8 megaton hydrogen bomb at 7,000 feet just south east of Christmas Island.

"It was the most frightening thing you'd ever want to hear or see. The noise and the lights just seemed to go on forever," he said.

"We were dressed in overalls together with anti-flash gloves, helmets, and goggles. Despite these inadequate precautions, you could still count the bones in your hands!"

After leaving the navy in 1963, he thought no more about the programme. But in 1975 a mysterious 'stye' appeared above his left eye, which had to be surgically removed.

It was in 1980 that he made the link between his cancer and the nuclear test.

The class action hearing is scheduled for January 2009, but in the meantime, the veterans are dying of ill health at a rate of around 50 a year, according to Rosenblatt Solicitors, who are representing them.

They believed their case was bolstered after a New Zealand study, peer-reviewed and published earlier this year, showed NZ veterans also present at the tests had 300 per cent more genetic mutations than normal.

However the MoD has now shifted to a 'limitation defence', arguing that because the claim is brought more than three years after injury, it is too late.

Today Mr Fiddaman is confident the veterans' case will be successful.

"The MoD can't argue with the science. If there's any justice, the veterans and the widows and the families have got to be paid, and better still, they have got to be recognised."

Click on the video link to see an interview with Mr Fiddaman, in which he describes the terrifying experience of the nuclear test and his long fight for justice.

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