For years, the US military claimed that the first-class John Burroughs was not on active duty in 1980. After a lengthy procedure and with the support of Republican Senator John McCain, the veteran finally got that the military hierarchy recognizes the direct link between his illness and his activities in the army. Specifically, to an overdose of radioactivity to which he was exposed on the night of December 25 to 26, 1980, when, along with other soldiers, he was confronted with an object of unknown origin on the Anglo-American base of Bentwaters. , in the Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk.

Shortly after the incident, John Burroughs began to experience physical symptoms and discomfort. But it is in 2011 that his physical condition has brutally deteriorated with a failure of the mitral valve, very surprising, according to his doctors, for a man in his fifties.

But neither John Burroughs nor his doctors were able to access his "classified" medical file. Even the cabinet of former presidential candidate John McCain, called to the rescue, has failed to get his hands on this file. In the end, his lawyers found in the archives of the Ministry of Defense two documents proving that the site on which the young soldier went had very high levels of radioactivity.