Air Force vets who served at top secret Area 52 base reveal how it made them sick with tumors but say they can't get aid because the government refuses to acknowledge their mission

Veterans who served on a top secret base referred to as 'Area 52' say the government won't compensate them for getting sick from their service because the US won't confirm they were ever there. 

Air Force veterans have previously sued the federal government after allegedly developing health issues as a result of working on the base, known as Tonopah Test Range, in the 1980s.

More servicemen are coming forward with stories of how working on the nuclear testing site left them with debilitating illness later in life, as America tested weapons that would leave scattered toxic radioactive material, according to a federal assessment.

Mark Ely, 63, served at the base in his 20s as a technician inspecting secretly obtained Soviet fighter jets in what was known as a 'hush house' when he was a physically fit young man.

Now, he counts the several life-threatening problems he lives with from the various classified missions, he says because of the radiation from testing at Area 52.

Mark Ely, 63, served at what's known as 'Area 52' in his 20s as a technician inspecting secretly obtained Soviet fighter jets in what was known as a 'hush house' when he was a physically fit young man

Veterans like Ely (pictured during his Air Force days) who served on a top secret base referred to as 'Area 52' say the government won't compensate them for getting sick from their service because the US won't confirm they were ever there

'It scarred my lungs. I got cysts on my liver. ... I started having lipomas, tumors inside my body I had to remove. My lining in my bladder was shed,' Ely told CBS News.

He says that he cannot get the government to acknowledge his service, which was done under a non-disclosure agreement and cannot prove he worked there. 

'There's a slogan that people say: 'Deny deny until you die.' Kind of true here,' Ely said.

'Upholding the national interest was more important than my own life,' he added.

Ely says that he's furious with the federal government after the service he gave to their efforts during the height of the Cold War. 

'It makes me incredibly mad and it hurts me too because they're supposed to have my back,' Ely said. 'I had theirs and I want them to have mine.' 

Dave Crete has long spoken out about the effects of the testing on soldiers and has spent much of the last decade trying to locate hundreds of other veterans who worked there. He's one of two who filed a lawsuit last year for his and another soldier's service at the more infamous 'Area 51'. 

He says he's seen 'all kinds of cancers' in the veterans, while he himself suffers from chronic bronchitis, breathing issues and a tumor he had to have removed from his back.

Air Force veterans have previously sued the federal government after allegedly developing health issues as a result of working on the base, known as Tonopah Test Range, in the 1980s

Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, known colloquially as 'Area 52'

Crete was employed by the Air Force's security police squadron to guard the F-117A stealth bomber at the range.

While many government employees have been able to get over $25 billion in federal assistance from their time working in the region, Air Force veterans like Ely and Crete have been shut out. 

The Department of Defense confirmed that Ely and Crete served but refused to say where when contacted for comment. 

Crete and Pomp Braswell - the co-plaintiff in his lawsuit - allege that their health problems came about after the soil they lived and worked on was contaminated with toxic materials from the government's testing.

'The thing is we were all handpicked, to be up there are get that clearance,' Braswell, who worked at the site between 1987 and 1990, told the outlet. 

'With that being said we were all at the top of our game, always' he added. 

'The government said they secured the area so there would be no more spread of the contamination' Crete, who worked at the base between 1983 and 1987, said.

'The way they secured it was with a barbed wire fence. Now I don't have a PhD in Physics' he added, 'but a barbed wire fence isn't going to do that.' 

Dave Crete has long spoken out about the effects of the testing on soldiers and has spent much of the last decade trying to locate hundreds of other veterans who worked there. He's one of two who filed a lawsuit last year for his service at the more infamous 'Area 51'

The Department of Defense confirmed that Ely and Crete served but refused to say where when contacted for comment

Crete, now a campaigner for injured or harmed government personnel, said he realized something was wrong after attending a reunion with those that used to work in his unit on the test range.

'There are eight of us and six of us have tumors, like that just can't be normal' he explained. 

'One of the guys who didn't said his kid was born with a tumor' he said. 

The Department of Defense has allegedly maintained to the men that they were not in the area at the times they state. 

This means they have not been entitled to compensation for themselves or their families. 

'They say their aircraft was there but not us, so the aircraft flew itself, guarded itself, parked itself and repaired itself. It pisses me off' Crete said. 

'Because we're not acknowledged as line of duty we have people dying with kids with zero benefits for those kids or that widow. 

'It's disheartening' Braswell, now a professional golfer, said of the government's response. 

Dave Crete and Pomp Braswell are suing the federal government after allegedly developing health issues as a result of working on the government's base in the 1980s

Dave Crete and Pomp Braswell were employed by the Air Force’s security police squadron to guard the F-117A stealth bomber

'Its infuriating, especially when our government and company is taking care of other countries and they won't take care of us.'  

Nevada's Republican Representative Mark Amodei told Arizona Family News he is working on a bill to provide compensation and restitution for US military personnel and their families who have suffered from exposure to toxic materials.

The Department for Defense told DailyMail.com they do not comment on any pending or ongoing litigation.