“From 1962 to 1971, US military forces sprayed herbicides over Vietnam to strip the thick jungle canopy that helped conceal opposition forces, to destroy crops that enemy forces might depend on, and to clear tall grasses and bushes from the perimeters of US base camps and out-lying fire-support bases. The herbicide mixtures used were named according to the color of an identification band painted on the storage drums; one of the main chemical mixtures sprayed was Agent Orange. At the time of the spraying, 2, 3, 7, 8-tetracholorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD, one form of dioxin) was an unintended contaminant from the production of 2, 4, 5-T and was present in Agent Orange and some other formulations sprayed in Vietnam.”
--Veterans and Agent Orange Update 2003 by Institute of Medicine of the National Academies

The darkness obliterated their vision. It’s April 1968, hours past midnight and Victor Abbot, along with six of his fellow men, are walking on the DaNang Harbor, acquiring missiles and ammunition to fire at the Vietnamese.

The sound of the helicopters hovering over them is distinct and alarming. One man yells out, “It’s raining!” but Abbot knew it couldn’t be rain—the weather had been fairly warm. The moist droplets felt like water on his skin, but the night hid their color. Momentarily, all of the men shared the same excruciating sting on their underarms and groin areas.

The men staggered in agony to the infirmary for treatment. They were given a cream for their skin, but the medicine offered little relief. Abbot and his brothers could do nothing but wait, helpless, for a cure that would never come.

***

Water drizzled from the showers, diffusing the tubs. It appeared slightly discolored but was the only source of ablution for George Claxton and his fellow comrades, who had no idea that this contaminated orange-water that they doused themselves in would cause terminal diseases. Corpses of birds were scattered on the depleted vegetation, but no humans were visibly blemished. The avian deaths remained unquestioned.

***

Clamorous bombs dropped every night. A once active and robust 18-year-old soldier, Michael Moore of St. Charles, La, stayed in the bunks that he shared with others, and kept to himself. He would ignore others when they began to talk about the horrors of war, like soldiers being blown apart by grenades. Regrets of going to war permeated his mind, and he longed for the day he would go home.

***

In 1984, a class-action lawsuit settlement was reached—with limitations—in U.S. Eastern District Court of New York, for veterans and their families who were deemed affected by the Agent Orange dioxin.

On agentorangelaw.net, the settlement states that the class included people “who have not yet manifested injury,” and it indemnified the defendants against future state-court actions alleging claims already addressed. It requires defendants to pay into a fund from which parties to the settlement would receive payments for 10 years, beginning January 1, 1985, and ending December 31, 1994. Injuries manifested after 1994 were not eligible for payment. The $180 million settlement was separated into funds that were allocated for organizational grantees, Vietnam veterans, and their eligible children, with $10 million placed into a reserve fund underwriting the defendants against future state court actions. Individual payments to about 50,000 veterans rarely exceeded $5,000. The settlements were subject to several appeals, but the Second Circuit consistently upheld it, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review it.

Three decades later, victims, most who are dead or are awaiting death, have still received no compensation, and new medical issues and ailments arise during visits to physicians. But, even with monetary compensation, the permanent wounds of emotional and mental trauma, haunting memories, suffering and agony, remain.

On a sizzling day in Phoenix, Ariz., Abbott, now 63 years old, paces around a tiny kitchen with his dilapidated, worn-out walker, preparing coffee to jumpstart his day. He uses purified water for his coffee, refusing tap water, remembering the water tarnished with Agent Orange.

He is paranoid. He eats only sourdough bread, as memories of the white bread that he ate in Vietnam won’t allow him to eat anything else.

He has been trying to get a wheelchair for years now from the Veteran’s Affair, because the tumor on his spine—inside and out—takes over his body at times. This is in addition to the complications of his Type 2 diabetes, the sty on his eye, and his abnormal bowel movement. Like other victims of AO, the irritable rashes pervading his groin and underarm still bother him, but his allergic reaction to the medications requires him to tolerate the pain.

***

Days go by briskly and Claxton, 64, who is now retired and lives with his twin brother in Detroit, Mich., tries to steer away from the horrendous nightmares of war. He is diagnosed with PTSD and can barely sleep at night.

For thirty years, he served as the National Chairman of the Vietnam Veterans of America, disseminating information about AO to veterans.

His authoritative but debilitated voice articulates nothing but knowledge and concern for his and other veterans’ civil and human rights. He is not qualified for the class-action lawsuit because he signed up for the 1984 case, but is adamant about assuring that other veterans are compensated.

“When Agent Orange was sprayed, doctors gave a glorified medical examination, so most of the diseases or cancers weren’t recognized yet. It’s a bunch of bullshit,” he says.

***

A healthy looking Moore, 58, wearing a stylish outfit, sits in the waiting room of the Christmas-decorated VA’s hospital of Martinez.

Although he looks able-bodied, he is far from good health. Just a week ago he spent Thanksgiving eve at the hospital.

He walks down the stairs of his, cozy home in Vallejo, Calif., holding the banister to aid his steps. As he reaches the kitchen counter, the dehydration from his mouth and the groggy, light-headedness kicks in, as a loud “thump” echoes the room—he collapses on the floor. Minutes later, he is conscious, as he lays on gurney to the ambulance.
The X-ray reveals something in his brain, but the doctors are unsure of the prognosis.
He visits the VA hospital today for a follow-up. The doctor still doesn’t have the result yet. As if he needs anymore dreadful news. He has high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, hemocomatosis and other ailments that he is unsure of. He has lost count.

The bed is his sanctuary. He wakes up in the morning to take the twenty or so medications prescribed by his doctor. He is too depressed to get out of bed otherwise. He forces himself to get out of bed although life is unbearable.

“I get mostly depressed in the winter time, when it is cold. I just want to sleep, but I can’t sleep at night because of the itching,” says Moore as he reaches inside his shirt and under his pants to scratch at the irritation.

***

In the law office of Smoger and Associates in Oakland, Calif., file folders sit atop one another, collecting dust in this compact office, where phone calls inquiring the status of the Agent Orange class action lawsuit calls are received daily.

Hundreds of files have “rejection” stamped on them—these particular ill veterans who feel they are affected by Agent Orange do not fit the criteria of the complaint.

Janelle, the secretary for Smoger, answers a ringing phone. On the other end is a feeble voice of a veteran from Florida asking for the status of the lawsuit. This is the fifth phone call about this today. She is frustrated but feels empathy, because this person is pleading for an answer that she can’t give him. The next court decision will come in July of next year.

***

There are hundreds of veterans who have been awaiting compensation since 1998, and thousands over the years prior.

These are only the victims from the United States. There are three million Vietnamese who suffer the affects of Agent Orange, and Vietnamese conditions are more acute than in America. The affected are physically abnormal, and repugnant birth defects pass from parents to their children.

***

The war didn't end when American troops left Vietnam. The war left behind affliction and torment and suffering from deformities caused by Agent Orange. Periodic hospital visits reveal ongoing diseases that these elderly veterans must face. Families of the deceased and dying veterans are also affected, battling against loss and injustice. The spraying of Agent Orange was done because America wanted to extinguish the enemies. Instead, the toxic herbicide killed their own people—soldiers who fought for this country and died, and who are still dying. It is easy to claim that the veterans fought for a good cause and sacrificed their lives-- but no matter how we justify the injustice, the scars will always exist.