Agent Orange catching up to Vietnam veterans decades later

OWENSBORO, Ky.— Snow fell outside the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 696 as its members held their monthly meeting Feb. 9.

Although attendance was down, most of those present were Vietnam veterans receiving some percentage of disability benefits from their exposure to Agent Orange — a herbicide sprayed by the United States military during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971.

Among them were Billy Milan, Lou Drawdy and Terry Stinson.

They were like thousands of other Vietnam vets who returned home unaware that they had been exposed to the same toxic dioxin that was meant to combat their enemies — the Viet Cong guerrillas and the North Vietnamese Army, known as "Charlie" to U.S. forces.

Now, decades later, Agent Orange is catching up with Vietnam veterans, leading to debilitating and deadly health problems that range from heart disease to various forms of cancer.

The three men said they were proud veterans, but, like many of their comrades, struggle with their Vietnam experience because they live every day with a multitude of illnesses stemming from Agent Orange exposure.

"It was bad enough that you were over there, and (the guerrillas) didn't like you," said Drawdy, 73, who served as a Marine and whose diabetes has been attributed to Agent Orange. "... Then you find that all of the hazards that you were exposed to, that maybe, the U.S. government didn't like you."

Stinson, 64, served in Vietnam from 1970 to 1971 as an Air Force aircraft mechanic, working and flying on planes that sprayed Agent Orange.

"I started showing signs when I was 26 years old," said Stinson, who is a severe diabetic due to his exposure. "Now, here I am 64 years old and I'm taking seven insulin shots a day. ... I can't feel my feet anymore."

Milan, 73, served several tours in Vietnam as part of the Army's Special Forces, 173rd and 101st Infantry Divisions. His first tour was in 1962 and his last in 1971.

"I thought I was a resident of Vietnam," said Milan, who receives 100 percent service-connected disability benefits for high blood pressure, an irregular heart beat and post-traumatic stress disorder. "I knew something was wrong because when the planes flew over to spray for mosquitoes and (the foliage) there was a different smell to it. ...So I had a taste of the Agent Orange."

It wasn't until 1991 that Congress passed the Agent Orange Act that gave the Department of Veterans Affairs the power to declare certain health conditions as "presumptive" to dioxin exposure.

The VA, however, doesn't have an accurate count of how many Vietnam veterans suffer from Agent Orange exposure.

"I can't get the Agent Orange statistics because it's not a general diagnosis," said Beth Lamb, Marion, Illinois, VA public affairs spokeswoman.