JIM “PAPPY” MOORE: Agent Orange Stalks Vietnam Veterans

The United States lost around 58,000 military personnel in the Vietnam War. That is the official death toll, but there have been deaths and serious illnesses and conditions which plague Vietnam Veterans even today. The death toll increases annually.

Agent Orange was used in Vietnam to defoliate areas so that after defoliation North Vietnamese troops and the Viet Cong regulars could be exposed better as they moved about. It worked from the standpoint of that objective. Approximately 12,000 square miles of Vietnam were exposed from Agent Orange usage. These were areas where American troops were exposed to Agent Orange, either directly or indirectly.

The troops in ground combat were affected any time they were near areas which had been defoliated by Agent Orange, but many others were also exposed. United States Air Force members had exposure to Agent Orange because the poison was delivered by aircraft, and it was moved about by truck and kept in storage in large barrels painted Orange. Hence the name Agent Orange.

As a result of the presence of Agent Orange, men who worked on aircraft deployed in the Agent Orange dissemination were exposed to it, as were men on the ground who dealt with the barrels and the trucking of such materials.

You might think Agent Orange would have been finished doing its damage but that is not true. Many veterans who served in Vietnam have died from Agent Orange. We know about the 58,000 of our men who died in Vietnam from hostile actions. Do you know how many have died from Agent Orange? The number is staggering, and I am guessing you don’t know it. The number is 300,000 Vietnam veterans have died from Agent Orange poisoning since the war ended 50 years ago.

I know some of these men. Our high school graduating class of 252 had around 126 men, of whom 41 joined the military in the year following our graduation in 1967. Of those 41, all 41 made it home alive, although some suffered serious injuries. But Death has stalked those who made it home alive. A number of them have developed the kinds of illnesses the Veterans Administration identifies as Agent Orange caused. Some have died from their malady. Others will surely eventually die from theirs.

Agent Orange continues to kill Vietnam Veterans. There was a class action suit by veterans 40 years ago which was resolved by settlement in which $180 million was paid to settle all claims. A structure was created and 52,000 veterans were compensated an average of $3800 each. But the problem is a quarter of a million men who would eventually die from their exposure would not be included in the payments. For most of those men their only payday is Illness and Death. Thank you for your service, but you don’t get paid for dying in the 21st century from damage done to you while you were serving your country in Vietnam.

This has to be rectified. Survivors and those still ill should get paid handsomely. We need a new lawsuit for those who injuries were not apparent in the 1980s and beyond. I’m thinking billions of dollars.