Vets Rally for Action on Agent Orange

WILDWOOD – One by one, conversations stopped and veterans of a war that ended more than four decades ago straightened to attention and saluted as they heard the notes of the “Star Spangled Banner” waft from the nearby boardwalk.
The national anthem could barely be heard over the ocean breeze; one after another they turned toward the sound as the civilian supporters placed their right hands over their hearts until the music concluded.
They had turned out under a brilliant blue sky to call for more action from the federal government to address the harm done by Agent Orange and other chemical defoliants used during the Vietnam War, chemicals they say have caused immense harm to veterans and their loved ones.
The veterans and advocates gathered June 12, in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Wildwood, a replica of the memorial on the national mall in Washington, in which the name of each of the 58,320 American service members killed in Vietnam is engraved.
The wall in Wildwood is half the size of the one in Washington, but packs a similar emotional punch. Before the start of the event, veterans scanned the dark, reflective face of the wall, searching for the names of comrades and friends.
Navy veteran Mike Kelly searched for the name of his childhood friend Michael Callahan, killed in Quang Tin province while serving with the Army 50 years earlier, almost to the day. He was killed June 7, 1969.
Kelly described Callahan as someone who was always ready to jump in to defend a friend, no matter the odds. He said Callahan earned a Silver Star for his service in Vietnam.
The event was the latest in ongoing efforts to improve the benefits and medical care for veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange and to raise awareness of the issues those veterans face. But it was also a time of remembrance, as veterans shared their stories of the war and the struggles that followed.
“Today we are here, again, to get the word out about Agent Orange that is killing us veterans at an alarming rate. Not only us veterans, (it’s) now affecting our children and grandchildren,” said Harry Weimar, the commander of American Legion Post 184, the sponsor of the event.
Weimar is almost universally known as “Shaky,” a reference to the tremors brought on by Parkinson’s Disease, for which he blames his exposure to Agent Orange. It seems like a taste of the black humor often used by soldiers and others facing deadly danger.
“The federal government needs to step up and do something now,” Weimar said. “I cannot sit back any longer and watch my veteran brothers and sisters die from this.”
Weimar began the event, after the Pledge of Allegiance, with a moment of silence for Mike Eckstein, a longtime activist in the cause, whom Weimar said died the morning before as a result of illness connected to Agent Orange exposure.
About 50 people attended the event, which included several speakers and elected officials. That included Raymond Miller, the state commander of the American Legion, and National Commander Brett Reistad. Both were in town for the American Legion Convention, which was being set up at the Wildwoods Convention Center across the street.
Veterans Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton and Assemblyman Bruce Land (D-1st) also attended.
During the Vietnam War, the American military used Agent Orange and similar herbicides to deny the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese fighters cover in the dense overgrowth and food by killing crops. The defoliant included dioxin. According to History.com, more than 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other defoliants were dropped in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos between 1961 and 1971.
Vietnamese officials allege some 400,000 people were killed or injured from exposure to the chemical and more than that suffered birth defects long afterward. As many as 2 million people are alleged to suffer from cancer or birth defects from exposure to defoliants dropped during the war.
Many American veterans reported a range of issues they connected to exposure to Agent Orange, from rashes to cancers and more. Those reports set the stage for a fight that has lasted decades over the benefits and care owed the veterans, how exposure was to be determined and what would be covered.
President George H. W. Bush signed the Agent Orange Act in 1991, mandating several diseases be treated as associated with wartime service. But the fight didn’t end there. Part of the most recent push has been to include Navy veterans who were aboard ship during the conflict, the so-called “blue water Navy.”
That describes Kelly’s service. He was stationed on the USS Furse, a destroyer that saw service in the Gulf of Tonkin and drew fire from the shoreline. It was in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive.
“I was what you called a ‘tin can’ sailor,” he said. “We took our hits.”
His duties also included loading cargo, including barrels of Agent Orange. He said his exposure is obvious – he lived with the chemical and with asbestos onboard.
Speaking from a podium on the back of a trailer, he said those harms are continuing to impact the children and grandchildren in the form of birth defects and other issues.
He told those attending that he survived esophageal cancer, alleging that it took the Department of Veterans Affairs eight years to admit that he was exposed to asbestos. He blames Agent Orange.
 “The stuff was bad,” he said. “And they knew what it did.”
Walt Craig, a Navy veteran and former mayor of Lower Township, said that while more than 59,000 service members were killed during the Vietnam War, more than 300,000 have died since the war in connection to Agent Orange exposure.
“That’s a number they don’t want you to know,” he said.
Over the years, the rules have changed on the benefits available to Vietnam veterans, including a presumption that those who served in country were exposed to Agent Orange and are entitled to benefits. This week saw a victory for the veterans.
According to Military Times, the Senate passed a bill the same day as the Wildwood event granting presumptive disability to “blue water” Navy veterans. That includes nearly 90,000 veterans, including Kelly.
Weimar said the veterans who fought for the nation were betrayed.
“Every day, veterans die because of this and their families grieve because the government does not want to face up to what would cost the government money,” he said. “What we need is for everyone to contact their congressmen and senators to stop, look around and help the veterans and their families.”
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.