October, 2007     Volume 8 - Issue 1

Hello all from the Old Dominion, Virginia. The purpose of this update is to let you know where the project stands and how we are fairing, getting the many names of those that have served, which turns out to probably be the long pole of this undertaking. As of September 1st, we have about 100 names for the honor roll; all the KIA have been accounted for and backed up by a second source. We are receiving about six names a month to add to the list and this is moving in the right direction; perhaps class reunions this fall will help add to the list.

Please keep those cards and letters coming, we will add them to the list of names. 

Very Respectfully,
Ken Strafer  Strafer@erols.com
Fairfax, Virginia 22032

RVN Era Memorial Effort as Summer Ends
September 2007

The Vietnam Era Service project, now in its fifth month of longevity, is slowly moving beyond 100 names and service information. Included in this population are those that have been supplied by the Department of Defense and confirmed by other veterans' organization sources. We also have moved into another level with the VFW organization coming up on the network and communicating with the RVN Era memorial team. This is important for the project since they are local to Hicksville, know many names not included in our current list, and most importantly, will benefit from what we are doing by the Alumni honoring all that served during the Vietnam era. We have also expanded the ground rules to remind you if you lived in Hicksville and went to a private school, you should be on the plaque, though it is known that Hicksville High probably beat your sports teams more times than you would like to admit. But we did.

If you know of anyone who might not be included or you aren't sure, please forward the name, branch of service and where they served during the Vietnam Era. Forward this information to your local new papers and let's get the word out and add more names to the plaque.

Plaque design

Walter Schmidt's October Column

Everything you really don't want to know about Agent Orange.

Agent Orange - One of the Six Major Herbicides Used In Vietnam

War wounds are not always visible. Veterans from past wars and those now currently deployed are suffering and dying from invisible wounds and not always as a result of enemy fire. 

When you are wounded in combat, rightfully and with dignity, you are presented with a Purple Heart. Yet sadly, a similar honor is not available for those sickened or killed by the chemical bullets known as Agent Orange. "Bullets" for which decades can pass before the full extent of their damage becomes known.

Our years from graduation are taking their toll. Yet it has been published (I'm still trying to "source" this) that those of us who served in Vietnam are dying at the same rate as those who did not serve in Vietnam, but are 25 years our senior. To put that in perspective, our fellow graduates who served in Vietnam and are now 60 are passing at the same rate as our fellow graduates who are 85 but were never in Vietnam.

This I have sourced: of the 3,001,000-plus Veterans who served in Vietnam, less than 975,000 are alive today!

How could this be? Two words -- Agent Orange.

---Agent What?

The six different types of herbicide used by U.S. forces in Vietnam were identified by a code name referring to the color of the 4-inch band painted around the 55-gallon drum that contained the chemical. These included Agents: Orange, White, Blue, Purple, Pink, and Green.

---How Much Was That?

Agent Produced Used
Green 8,208 8,208
Pink 122,792 122,792
Purple 145,000 145,000
Blue 2,166,656 2,166,656
White 5,600,000 5,239,853
Orange 13,927,985 11,712,860
TOTAL: 21,970,641 19,395,369

---When Was That?

Year Used
1962 17,171
1963 74,760
1964 281,607
1965 664,657
1966 2,535,788
1967 5,123,353
1968 5,089,010
1969 4,558,817
1970 758,966
1971 10,039
Unk 281,201
TOTAL: 19,395,369

---Who Did That & Where?

The military use of herbicides in Vietnam began in 1961, was expanded during 1965 and 1966, and reached a peak from 1967 to 1969. Herbicides were used extensively in Vietnam by the U.S. Air Force's Operation RANCH HAND to defoliate inland hardwood forests, coastal mangrove forests, and cultivated land, by aerial spraying from C-123 cargo/transport aircraft and helicopters. Soldiers also sprayed herbicides on the ground to defoliate the perimeters of base camps and fire bases; this spraying was executed from the rear of trucks and from spray units mounted on the backs of soldiers on foot. Navy riverboats also sprayed herbicides along riverbanks. The purpose of spraying herbicides was to improve the ability to detect enemy base camps and enemy forces along lines of communication and infiltration routes. Spraying was also used to destroy the crops of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. 

The code name for the overall herbicide program was TRAIL DUST. The code name RANCH HAND specifically referred to the C-123 herbicide spraying project.

Agent Orange accounted for over 60% of the total herbicides disseminated over Vietnam (11.7 million gallons of a total 19.4 million gallons).

Orange contained relatively high levels of an exceedingly poisonous substance known as "dioxin" or "TCDD" (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin).

---Chronologically 

April 1961: an advisor to President Kennedy prepares a memo on Vietnam recommending nine specific courses of action, setting into motion a series of events which led to the decision to send Air Force C-123s to South Vietnam to spray herbicides. 

August 1961: The first defoliation test mission flown by a South Vietnamese Air Force H-34 helicopter equipped with a Helicopter Insecticide Dispersal Apparatus, Liquid (HIDAL) spray system and the first fixed-wing spray mission flown by a VNAF C-47.

December 1961: The first shipment of chemicals left the docks at Oakland. 

January 1962: The first RANCH HAND defoliation mission, adjacent to a swath which a VNAF C-47 had sprayed with pink in December 1961. 

January 1971: RANCH HAND flew its last three C-123 sorties spraying a crop target in Ninh Thuan province.

October 1971: The last U.S. helicopter herbicide operation was flown.

---Again In Total

Between 1961 and 1971, the U.S. sprayed enough herbicides to cover 30,305 square miles or 23.8% of the total area of Vietnam. 

19,395,369 total gallons sprayed by the U.S. between August 10, 1961 and October 31, 1971 equates to an average of 5,193 gallons per day for 3,735 days. 

That would be over a mile of gallon-milk-containers (laid side by side) used each day for over ten years!

---The Bottom Line

The Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes a dozen illnesses, including Diabetes Type II, Prostate Cancer, Hodgkin's Disease, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Respiratory Cancers, and Soft-tissue Sarcoma as Agent Orange related and being "service connected." 

And "new" problems continue to be reported, with several being considered for addition to the VA's recognized illness list. And even more than just "new" illnesses, recently from the Medical College of Georgia: veterans exposed to Agent Orange have a 48 percent increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence following surgery than their unexposed peers, and when the disease comes back, it seems more aggressive. Their study looked at 1,653 veterans who had prostate cancer surgery at Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers in five cities between 1990 and 2006. Agent Orange contains the carcinogen, dioxin, which can be stored in body fat and is believed to make its way into the cell nucleus and work as a tumor promoter. In the past, relatively higher mortality rates have been found in chemical plant workers and farmers with prostate cancer who were exposed to dioxin. 

Yet most of the Vietnam-Theatre veterans (those who served "in-country") and most of the Vietnam-Blue Water veterans (those who served "within sight of land") are to this day unaware... 

While it goes without saying, it must be said. Every Vietnam Veteran should have a yearly physical along with certain simple tests that could easily lengthen or even save their life. Further, the surviving-spouse of a veteran who died of a "VA acknowledged service connectable" illness could be entitled to a significant, life-time, tax-free stipend.

Hicksville Trivia: during the summer of 63 and 64, just north of J. J. Newberry and South of the Plaza Star, in the old WHLI (?) radio booth, converted, you could find during the day at least one of a small crew of dedicated teenagers who would gladly sell you soft ice cream, by the cone, by the cup, and it has been said, to their friends by the mug brought with them. If memory serves one of those dedicated crew
was Bob "something," class of 1965. Another one was, well, yours truly.   Walt Schmidt

Current Vets News: Veterans College Prep Program Cut by Feds -- The Thursday before Labor Day, as 30 Veterans were set to start college the day after Labor Day, the Veterans Upward Bound program director at Humboldt State College in California, at 3:30 p.m., received a FedEx message. The grant money for the Federally Funded Program that had existed for the last 33 years was gone. The program, which since 1973 has assisted more than 2,000 Veterans, was summarily canceled... by written notice just one day in advance. A program that not only provided transition from military life to civilian life, a program which helped Veterans adjust to life once again as a student, in preparation for a productive life. Yet, VA Secretary Nicholson Urges Congress Not to Increase Veterans Budget -- He asks lawmakers to resist adding more money. Says current budget is "fiscally responsible." At least Representative Phil Hare (IL-17) has introduced H.R. 2514, the "Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act," which would move the funding of veterans' health care from discretionary to mandatory funding (another article for another day).

Lest We Forget: Currently there are (at least) 4,577 Veterans of Modern Warfare who no longer will be "asking" our government for a dime . . . 

Till next month be well... and remember, "Let No Veteran Ever Stand Alone!"