They wanted to know why he had recently appeared on Russian TV and what, exactly, he intended to do at the government-controlled Area 51. He told them the truth: He and his childhood friend, Eduards Nits, owned the world's oldest McDonald's Quarter Pounder, and they rose to internet fame as a result, explaining their bizarre appearance on a state-run television network that espouses political propaganda to millions of people.
David Crete, a former Air Force Sergeant who worked at NTTR from 1983 through 1987, said that over 490 of his fellow workers have died of severe illnesses since being stationed at the secret facility. 'I have brain atrophy. The left side of my brain is shrinking and dying. That's not too bad. I'm one of the healthy ones,' Crete told the House Veterans Affairs Committee in April while lobbying for legislation to support the Area 51 veterans. The average age of death for someone who served in that unit is 65 and the youngest airman to die was just 33.