Navy Veterans Still Fighting For Justice After 40 Years

40 years after Vietnam, these Navy vets are still fighting for Agent Orange compensation 
Bangor Daily News
By Charles Ornstein and Terry Parris Jr., ProPublica
Posted Sept. 13, 2015

“Of all the hazards we faced at sea, I don’t think the drinking water registered on anyone’s list,” said Smith, who’s among thousands of former sailors now seeking compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for their ailments, which the Institute of Medicine says could plausibly be related to Agent Orange exposure, though there’s no proving it.

To the best of his knowledge, Jim Smith never saw or handled Agent Orange on the Navy ship he served on during the Vietnam War.

“I never sprayed the stuff, never touched the stuff,” said Smith, 65, who lives in Virginia Beach. “I knew later, vets started getting sick from it, but I didn’t think it had any impact on me.”

It turns out, he might have been drinking it.

The realization came in 2011 — almost 40 years after his one-year tour aboard the ammunition ship Butte — when Smith was diagnosed with prostate cancer and started doing some research.

He learned that he and other so-called Blue Water Navy veterans may have been exposed to Agent Orange and other herbicides even though most of them never set foot in Vietnam, where the spraying took place.

That’s because the chemicals, used to kill vegetation and deny enemy cover, could have washed into rivers and out to sea, where patrolling Navy vessels sucked in potentially contaminated water and distilled it for use aboard the ships—a process that would have only concentrated the toxin. Every member of the crew would have been exposed: Distilled water was used in showers, to wash laundry and to prepare food. It was used to make coffee, as well as a sugary beverage known as “bug juice,” which flowed from fountains in the enlisted mess.
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Vietnam Veterans Cancer Risk Doubled By Agent Orange

Agent Orange linked to doubled cancer risk in Vietnam veterans 
San Antonio Express News
By Jessica Belasco
September 11, 2015

“The pilots were probably the least exposed because they’re like the truck drivers,” Michalek explained. “The guys who got it the worst were the enlisted ground crew who had to fill the tanks, sit in the back of the plane, operate the spray equipment.” Dr. Nikhil C. Munshi

U.S. Air Force personnel who conducted aerial spray missions of the Agent Orange herbicide during the Vietnam War were twice as likely to have a disorder that can lead to a type of blood cancer, says a new study published in JAMA Oncology online Sept. 3.

This is the first study to uncover an association between exposure to Agent Orange and multiple myeloma among Vietnam veterans.

Previous research showing an association between similar herbicides and multiple myeloma examined agricultural workers in the United States and Canada.

“We have, for the first time, biological evidence of a connection between this particular cancer and exposure to Agent Orange and its dioxin contaminant,” said Joel Michalek, a professor of biostatistics at San Antonio’s University of Texas Health Science Center and an author on the paper.

Multiple myeloma is a relatively rare blood cancer that can damage the kidneys and other organs, weaken bones and cause high calcium levels in the blood, the National Cancer Institute says. Agent Orange has been linked to other cancers and diseases, including Type 2 diabetes.
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VA Says Pick Pot or Pain Meds, Not Both

Vietnam vet with cancer denied pain medication after testing positive for marijuana
By WSAV Staff
Published: September 9, 2015

Dixon is the latest in the growing number of veterans caught in a change nationwide within the VA.

They have to sign an ‘opiate consent’ form which outlines the negative effect of mixing pain killers and marijuana is now required.

Under the new VA guidelines, vets can get their prescriptions filled, or use marijuana, but can’t do both.

TOPEKA (KSNT) — A nationwide argument between the veterans’ administration and groups which represent the rights of veterans emerged in Topeka Tuesday.

That issue is whether veterans should be denied prescription medications because they use marijuana for physical or emotional pain even in states which allow medical marijuana use.

We found out about it when a Vietnam veteran contacted KSNT News.

“I went in to get a refill on my pain medication and they refused to let me have it, because I have marijuana in my blood,” Gary Dixon, Vietnam veteran.

Gary Dixon is a 65-year-old disabled Vietnam veteran. While in Vietnam he was exposed to Agent Orange.

“I hurt, and I hurt from something I got fighting for my country,” says Dixon.

Now he’s got stage four lung cancer, doesn’t have much time left to live and readily admits to smoking marijuana.
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Man Charged with Hate Crime After Attacking Vietnam Veteran in Wheelchair!

Man accused of assaulting veteran in wheelchair charged with hate crime
FOX 31 Denver
BY ROB LOW
EPTEMBER 4, 2015

BOULDER, Colo. -- A disabled Vietnam Veteran, who uses a wheelchair, praised Boulder County prosecutors for charging his attacker with a hate crime.

Heriberto Chacon, who goes by the name Xakon Con Passion, was leaving a Chase Bank ATM in Lafayette on July 18, when he said he was attacked by a complete stranger. “He assaulted me and punched me, he hit me, I can`t tell you how many times,” said Chacon.

Chacon has used a wheelchair for years because of nerve damage he suffered after being exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam.

He said he was flabbergasted when the suspect, 61-year-old Jerry Dawson, started hitting him and calling him “a cripple” as he left the bank with his nurse MaryAnne Bowe. “If I wouldn`t have seen it and so many other people seen it, I don`t know that people would believe me,” said Bowe, who called the assault completely unprovoked. “I did hear him say ‘stand up and fight like a man’ and that`s when a bystander came and said ‘sir, sir, can`t you see he`s in a wheelchair’?”
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Vietnam Veteran Puts Up Protest Billboard "VA Is Lying, Veterans Are Dying"

Angry billboard brings national VA protest to Haley center
Tampa Tribune
Howard Altman
August 31, 2015

The billboard is on the 1200 block of East Fowler Avenue near the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa. SALLY MULCARE

A national group of veterans and their families, upset with the Department of Veterans Affairs, has brought its protest to Tampa — in the form of a message on an electronic billboard on the 1200 block of East Fowler Avenue near the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital.

“VA is Lying, Veterans Are Dying,” reads the message, sponsored by a Facebook group called “VA is Lying,” launched by a Vietnam War veteran from Indiana.

“I started the Facebook group about two years ago because I was angry at the VA,” Ron Nesler said.

Nesler said he was upset, in part, about the treatment of his step-daughter, whose biological father is a Marine exposed to Agent Orange when he served in Vietnam. The exposure led to severe birth defects in the child and Nesler said his anger has been stoked by the VA’s poor response to a federal law mandating treatment for children of veterans exposed to the defoliant.

The VA’s actions on the matter have been “unconscionable,” said Rick Weidman, executive director for policy and government affairs for the Vietnam Veterans of America, a veteran service organization that has helped Nesler fight for benefits for his stepdaughter.
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Vietnam Veterans Unaware of Agent Orange Benefits

VA wants all veterans exposed to Agent Orange to apply for benefits
Salisbury Post
By Rick Johnson
August 24, 2015

Many Vietnam veterans aren’t aware of the Agent Orange presumptive diseases. Furthermore, some veterans choose not to go to the VA for their treatment or some veterans have never thought to apply.

Rowan County Veteran Services

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The first U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam in March of 1965.

More than 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam conflict. Many who survived are fighting diseases the U.S. government now recognizes were caused by a very powerful toxic chemical used in the jungle war zone.

Since 2010, the Department of Veterans Affairs has recognized a list of diseases, cancers and illnesses caused by the chemical Agent Orange. The VA is now making a renewed push to ensure everyone knows about the benefits available to veterans sickened by Agent Orange.
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List Of Diseases Connected to Agent Orange
AL Amyloidosis
A rare disease caused when an abnormal protein, amyloid, enters tissues or organs

Chronic B-cell Leukemias
A type of cancer which affects white blood cells

Chloracne (or similar acneform disease)
A skin condition that occurs soon after exposure to chemicals and looks like common forms of acne seen in teenagers. Under VA's rating regulations, it must be at least 10 percent disabling within one year of exposure to herbicides.

Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
A disease characterized by high blood sugar levels resulting from the body’s inability to respond properly to the hormone insulin

Hodgkin's Disease
A malignant lymphoma (cancer) characterized by progressive enlargement of the lymph nodes, liver, and spleen, and by progressive anemia

Ischemic Heart Disease
A disease characterized by a reduced supply of blood to the heart, that leads to chest pain

Multiple Myeloma
A cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell in bone marrow

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
A group of cancers that affect the lymph glands and other lymphatic tissue

Parkinson's Disease
A progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects muscle movement

Peripheral Neuropathy, Early-Onset
A nervous system condition that causes numbness, tingling, and motor weakness. Under VA's rating regulations, it must be at least 10 percent disabling within one year of herbicide exposure.

Porphyria Cutanea Tarda
A disorder characterized by liver dysfunction and by thinning and blistering of the skin in sun-exposed areas. Under VA's rating regulations, it must be at least 10 percent disabling within one year of exposure to herbicides.

Prostate Cancer
Cancer of the prostate; one of the most common cancers among men

Respiratory Cancers (includes lung cancer)

Cancers of the lung, larynx, trachea, and bronchus

Soft Tissue Sarcomas (other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, or mesothelioma) A group of different types of cancers in body tissues such as muscle, fat, blood and lymph vessels, and connective tissues

Children with birth defects
VA presumes certain birth defects in children of Vietnam and Korea Veterans are associated with Veterans' qualifying military service.

Veterans with Lou Gehrig's Disease
VA presumes Lou Gehrig's Disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS) diagnosed in all Veterans who had 90 days or more continuous active military service is related to their service, although ALS is not related to Agent Orange exposure.

Senators Not Giving Up FIght For Air Force Reservists Agent Orange Battle

VA Nomination On Hold in Senate Over Agent Orange Dispute 
Associated Press
by Hope Yen
Jun 11, 2015

"These veterans have waited too long to receive the health care and disability benefits they deserve," Brown told The Associated Press. "Dr. Shulkin is extremely qualified, but we can't move forward to confirm an undersecretary for health at the VA until this pressing veterans' health issue is addressed."

WASHINGTON — Three Democratic senators are holding up a confirmation vote on President Barack Obama's nominee for Veterans Affairs' top health post, citing the department's delay in extending disability benefits to Air Force reservists possibly exposed to Agent Orange.

Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Oregon's two senators, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, said Thursday they will block a vote on Dr. David Shulkin's nomination in the full Senate until the Department of Veterans Affairs provides a fuller update on its efforts to help roughly 1,500 to 2,100 reservists who served from 1972 to 1982 at military bases in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

The senators had requested such feedback in a letter to the VA in April, with no adequate response to date, they said.
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Burn Pits Long Term Aftereffects For Veterans

Exposure to toxic ‘burn pits’ the new Agent Orange 
WTNH News
By Mark Davis, News 8
Chief Capitol Correspondent
Published: May 8, 2015

The V.A. has admitted some veterans could have long-term aftereffects, especially those with preexisting conditions like asthma or other heart or lung conditions.

They have established a burn pit exposure registry and are conducting research into it.
For more information, click here.

WATERBURY, Conn. (WTNH) — Some are calling toxic “burn pits” near military installations in Iraq and Afghanistan the “new Agent Orange.” Veterans at an event in Waterbury Friday say they had to live and breath contaminated air from the burn pits for extended periods of time, and now they’re worried about their health. read more here

Reminder Battle for VA Benefits Doesn't End Until We Give Up

Vietnam Vet dies waiting on military benefits after Agent Orange exposure 
WREG News
BY STEPHANIE SCURLOCK
MAY 8, 2015

In our investigation WREG found out his wife can file to receive his benefits if he died from one of these presumptive diseases caused by Agent Orange.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A sad update to a WREG investigation into problems facing Vietnam vets and their families.

Thursday morning, the vet we introduced you to last week passed away.

His death came hours after finishing paper work for full benefits.

WREG found out this battle may not be over. This is exactly what so many Vietnam vets fear dying before their benefits kick in. 

New wars created a backlog as older vets got sick and eventually passed away. However, in our investigation we learned the fight can continue even after death. 

 “Do you want to die at home or do you want to die at the hospital. That’s why I’m here. I’m here to die,” said Paul Hines last week to WREG.

Paul Hines got his wish to die at home. read more here

Sarasota Veterans Community Joins Forces for Afghanistan Veteran

Veteran with PTSD needs new home for dog
FOX 13 News
By: Crystal Clark
Mar 18, 2015

SARASOTA (FOX 13) - A veteran in Sarasota battling PTSD must now let go of the dog he rescued in Afghanistan to undergo treatment.

A non-profit organization in St. Petersburg hopes to find the dog a new, permanent home.

Kathy Smith, Founder of Dog Tag Heroes, was contacted by a Vietnam War veteran in Sarasota through her Pet Foster Car Program.

The veteran told her about a young soldier who recently returned from Afghanistan.

He is being treated in Sarasota for severe emotional Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The soldier's condition is said to be so severe, he will likely by institutionalized for an indefinite period of time, leaving the dog he raised in Afghanistan and brought back to the states without a caregiver.

"We really want to find a good home for this dog and not let this dog end up in a kennel," said Smith.

According to Smith, the dog is currently in the care of a foster mom in Sarasota.

Smith has made helping veterans her mission in life since her husband, Dennis, a veteran of the Navy, died in 2006 from the effects of Agent Orange.
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We Send Them to War Then Refuse to Care?

When Do We Step Up for Vietnam Veterans?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 7, 2015

Ok, I am officially pissed off and only on my second cup of coffee.

Why are Vietnam veterans still fighting for what their service to us did to them? Any clue? Why should any veteran have to fight for what they need in return from us when they come back from where we sent them?

You may be sitting there thinking "I didn't send them" but you did. You did when the people elected to office won their seats and got to decide what happens. Just because the person you voted for lost or you didn't even bother to show up, you are still responsible as an American citizen.

They are still fighting for treatment and compensation for what Agent Orange did to them.

Vietnam vet fights VA for cancer/heart treatment In 1968, Patrick Sam was 19 years old, and he signed up with the 101st Airborne Infantry serving in the A Shau valley of Vietnam. A picture of the war moved him to volunteer.

Why? Why aren't we talking about all these years politicians made so many speeches about taking care of them?

Why haven't reporters asked them to account for this disgraceful disrespect of their service?

Politicians made them go! All of them did not willingly step up saying "send me" to fight in Vietnam. Do you remember that until the end of the Vietnam war they were still forcing men 18 and over into military service with the draft?

Most did step up expecting that if they made it home wounded, they believed they would receive the benefits they were promised. They expected this country would have cared they were willing to put their lives on the line.

What they didn't expect or deserve, was being treated like trash by the public and regarded as welfare recipients from the politicians refusing to take care of their needs caused by service.

Well, what we're seeing today is directly tied to what we didn't do back when they came home.

On the flip side, what we're seeing on Combat PTSD is all directly tied to them. They fought for all of it. 

Every other generation came home with the same trauma, the same wounds, the same suffering as they did but they put their time in fighting for all generations including the ones who came after them.

A friend of mine was telling me about a Gulf War veteran who received no help for combat wounds in his body and in his mind.

He managed to trust her enough to talk to her about what was going on all these years. She knew the basics of PTSD and was able to just listen to what he had to say, what he was willing to share.

They got to the point where he trusted her so when he was at the point where he wanted to get help from the VA, she took him.

The VA employee was ready to send him home instead of putting him in to see someone while he was in crisis. She hit the roof! She told the employee that they were not about to leave and he had to be seen right then and there. They were willing to wait for as long as it would take for someone to fit him in.

The employee thought about it, must have realized how serious his condition was, and he got him in to see a psychologist and then a doctor.

All this reminded me of when we faced the same thing back in the early 90's. I could feel my blood pressure go up as my friend told me what happened.

All these years later, the same thing is going on but no one really seems to be willing to step up and fight for them.

I know the price paid after their service but I have no clue what it is like to serve. However, I do value them enough to know they are worth fighting for.

Why don't you?

Are you willing to settle for politicians creating different classes of veterans as if older veterans don't matter as much as the newer ones?

If that is the case then where will you be when we have other wars and we didn't take care of the ones we already had?

Air Force Ranch Hands May Finally Get Justice For Agent Orange

Air Force Reservists May Get Help for Agent Orange Exposure
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
by Torsten Ove
Mar 03, 2015

About 2,100 crew members, flight nurses and maintenance workers who serviced those "spray birds" here and at bases in Massachusetts and Ohio have long maintained that the C-123s were contaminated, even though the Air Force insisted they had been cleaned.

A UC-123B Provider aircraft sprays the defoliant Agent Orange over South Vietnam in 1962. A new report says the planes remained contaminated for years after the war, while Air Force Reserve units used them for medical, transport and training missions.

Michael Silverman remembers the smell.

"The first time I got on one of those planes I said, 'What stinks?' " he said. "They said this plane was used to spray Agent Orange. Everybody smelled it. It was kind of a sweet smell. It was unmistakable."

That was in 1975 when Mr. Silverman, 69, of Fox Chapel, a former Vietnam B-52 navigator and retired lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserves, began flying C-123 Provider military cargo planes assigned to the 911th Airlift Wing at Pittsburgh International Airport.

The air base had 16 of the lumbering behemoths from 1972 to 1982, five of which had been used in Vietnam to spray Agent Orange defoliant as part of what the military called Operation Ranch Hand.
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Agent Orange: Vietnam C-123 Airmen Fight for Claims Being Honored

Agent Orange report comes after years of VA denials
Military Times
By Patricia Kime
Staff Writer
January 17, 2015

A new Institute of Medicine report that found veterans were exposed to Agent Orange while flying in C-123 aircraft after the Vietnam War came three years after another federal agency reached a similar conclusion.

But despite a pronouncement in January 2012 by the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry that these crews' levels of exposure to dioxin were 182 times higher than acceptable amounts, representing a 200-fold risk for cancer, the Veterans Affairs Department refused to acknowledge any link between the veterans' current illnesses and a history of serving on that aircraft.

Instead, VA public health officials insisted that trace amounts of dioxin on internal aircraft surfaces were not "biologically available for skin absorption or inhalation because dioxin is not water- or sweat-soluble and does not give off airborne particles."

Meanwhile, since veterans found out in 2011 they may have been exposed, at least 10 with diseases associated with Agent Orange have had VA disability claims denied and some have died — although just how many have passed away as a result of exposure-related illnesses is difficult to pin down, said retired Air Force Maj. Wes Carter, founder of the C-123 Veterans Association.
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Arkansas Veterans Group Puts Compassion into Action

New center helps Conway veterans get benefits 
THV11 News
Astrid Solorzano
January 17, 2015

CONWAY, Ark. (KTHV) - There are more than 250,000 men and women who served our country in Arkansas. Veterans Outreach Ministries has helped more than 8,000 veterans through the hurdles of receiving health care benefits. The group has two existing locations, one in Pleasant Plains and one in Searcy. Paul Bunn's offices help veterans and their families overcome struggles with health care. 

Now Bunn, with the help of more than 60 volunteers, have opened a new location in Conway. "Our veterans do not have access to proper representation when it comes to the Department of Veterans Affairs." The group's motto is 'healing by helping compassion in action.'

"Our Vietnam veterans were exposed to herbicides, Agent Orange," said Bunn, "There are automatically 12 presumptive illnesses they are exposed to, and can get treatment paid for."
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Air Force Reservists "were exposed" to Agent Orange

Agent Orange-Contaminated Planes Could Have Sickened Vets After The War: Federal Report
Huffington Post
Lynne Peeples
Posted: 01/09/2015

Retired Maj. Wes Carter, who served aboard C-123s after Vietnam, has been leading the effort on behalf of this group of post-war veterans for the past few years. He said there were "hugs all around" with the release of the findings on Friday.

"This is a big deal," he said. "This is a giant step closer to justice."

U.S. Air Force Reserve Fairchild C-123K Provider crew members stand in front of their aircraft during opening ceremonies for exercise "Volant Rodeo '79" at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, on June 3, 1979.
(Sgt. Rozalyn Dorsey, USAF) | Sgt. Rozalyn Dorsey, USAF

Lingering amounts of the herbicide Agent Orange aboard repurposed airplanes after the Vietnam War could have sickened military veterans, according to a new federal report.

In findings released Friday, an Institute of Medicine committee "emphatically" refutes a recurrent argument made by the U.S. Air Force and Department of Veteran Affairs that any carcinogenic dioxin or other components of Agent Orange contaminating its fleet of C-123 cargo planes would have been "dried residues" and therefore unlikely to pose any meaningful exposure risks to the 1,500 to 2,100 Air Force Reserve personnel who served aboard the planes between 1972 and 1982.

That contention has been the basis for the VA's denial of benefits to sick veterans, and remains reflected on the agency's website today. But in the new report, the committee states "with confidence" that these dried residues in fact could have posed dangers: the Air Force Reservists "were exposed," write the Institute of Medicine authors.

"That website should be taken down immediately," said Jeanne Stellman, an Agent Orange expert at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, who was not involved in the new report.

"I can't imagine a harder slap in the face to the VA than what this committee delivered," she added.

"This is justice, delayed. The VA Secretary will have to change the policy now. The veterans have won."
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VA rationing new hepatitis C drug to treat Agent Orange Vietnam Veterans

Sky-high price has VA rationing new hepatitis C drug
Jacksonville Daily News
December 26, 2014

Senator Bernie Sanders

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., used one of his last hearings as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee to review how VA has had to ration a break-through medicine that cures hepatitis C, a liver virus infecting 174,000 veterans, because a course of treatment — 84 pills over 12 weeks —- costs VA almost $50,000 per patient.

Sanders said the biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Inc., of Foster City, Calif., stands to earn more than $200 billion on a new drug called Sovaldi. When combined with still toxic antiviral medicines including interferon injections, Sovaldi cures hepatitis C at a 90 percent rate, and does so faster and with fewer side effects than past drug regimens.

That a cure has been found is good news, Sanders said, especially for veterans who are infected with hepatitis C at three times the rate of the general population. Vietnam War-era vets are hit particularly hard because of battlefield blood exposure, non-sterile vaccination routines, wartime sharing of razors, drug abuse and recruit demographics from the last draft era.

What’s disturbing and “astounding,” Sanders said, are pill prices set by Gilead. VA has budgeted $1.3 billion to buy Sovaldi over the next two years to treat mostly patients with advance liver disease or liver cancer, said Michael Valentino, chief consultant for VA Pharmacy Benefits Management Services.

There’s money enough for 25,000 to 30,000 patients, he said.
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Utica Contractors Team Up for Disabled Vietnam Veteran

Volunteers band together to help local veteran
By WKTV News
Story Created: Dec 12, 2014

(WKTV) - It was a chilly day to be working outside Friday, but that's what about a dozen local contractors did all day long -- and they're donating their services.

They are teaming up to make a local veteran's life more comfortable. The man who lives in a home on Kirkland Avenue in Clinton is 68-year-old Richard Koury, a Clinton native. Koury served in Vietnam as a Marine in 1965 and 1966.

He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as health problems related to Agent Orange and napalm, but still worked for years at Kelsey Hayes in Utica, not taking any government help at all.

Recently, he suffered two strokes and is confined to either his hospital bed or his wheelchair in one room of his home, which is not very handicapped accessible.
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'Nam vets rally Army of volunteers to help disabled comrade

'Nam vets rally to help disabled comrade
WCF Courier
By Pat Kinney
November 28, 2014

WATERLOO
Walter Sanders went into the Navy in 1968 expecting he wouldn't be sent to Vietnam. He was sent there anyway.

Now the veteran and his wife of 43 years, Karen, are encountering new battles they didn't bargain for: Walter's disability and other health issues make simply getting in and out of the shower a challenge.

Sanders is getting help from two fellow Vietnam veterans in a project supported by Wells Fargo Bank.

Building contractor Rick Reuter and Larry Walters of the Cedar Falls Veterans of Foreign Wars, Wells Fargo and an army of contractors and volunteers are expanding the bathroom in the Sanders home in the City View neighborhood on Waterloo's east side to accommodate his disabilities.

It's part of an ongoing Wells Fargo program to help veterans and includes a $10,000 grant.

"You don't know what a blessing this is. It's a blessing. I appreciate all of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" said Walter Sanders, who along with Karen could hardly contain their relief.

"God works through people," he said.

Sanders was a Navy storekeeper in Vietnam at Camp Tien Sha near Da Nang. Part of his duties, for which he volunteered, involved moving supplies to frontline troops near Vietnam's demilitarized zone during his tour of duty in 1968. He was exposed to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange.

Over the past 10 years he has suffered prostate cancer, a stroke, diabetes and multiple brain tumors. He is now considered cancer free but is still being seen at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Iowa City. He has mobility and balance issues and uses a cane and a wheelchair. He requires substantial care from Karen.
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Vietnam Veteran Marine Happily Lectured By Son

W.Va. veteran with cancer gets wish to see son lecture at Pitt
Ex-Marine visits math class at Pitt
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Amy McConnell Schaarsmith
November 25, 2014

“Dad, being a Vietnam veteran, didn’t quite get the recognition those guys deserved,” said Mr. Wheeler, 46. “I thought we could shine a little light on what he’d done for us.” 

Robin Rombach/Post-Gazette
Jeffrey Raymond Wheeler sits Monday in the back of a mathematics class taught by his son Jeffrey Paul Wheeler at the University of Pittsburgh.

The speeches, the handshakes, the red-white-and-blue cake -- it was all a surprise, and a lot more public acclamation than retired U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Jeffrey Raymond Wheeler, a Vietnam War veteran with terminal lung cancer, was used to receiving for his service in Da Nang in the mid-1960s.

Sitting up as straight as he could in his wheelchair, Mr. Wheeler, a 68-year-old former coal miner from Wheeling, W.Va., listened quietly to words of praise from a veterans services spokesman for the University of Pittsburgh. He shook hands with his many well-wishers, accepting their thanks and thanked them in return for attending the reception.

Mr. Wheeler’s cancer has left him weakened, making the wheelchair necessary. But when it was time to face the cameras, he stood and to a spot in front of the Marine Corps and United States flags, and spoke from his heart. Why, he was asked, was one of his final wishes to see his elder son, Pitt mathematics lecturer Jeffrey Paul Wheeler, teach a class?

“He’s special in my life, like my other son,” he said, as his wife, Ruth Ann, stood nearby. “God blessed me, blessed both of us, with two wonderful sons.”
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Problem Solvers Reporters Straighten Out VA for Vietnam Veteran

Vietnam veteran struggles to get transportation for medical care; Problem Solvers step in to help
KJRH News
Jamil Donith
Nov 21, 2014

WAGONER, Okla. - David Breman was just 17-years-old when he pre-in listed in the Marine Corps, and 37-years later he is still haunted by his past.

"I live with it, and I have lived with it a long time."

Three of his comrades were killed by the very bombs the U.S. used during the Vietnam War to destroy unwanted military equipment and the harmful chemical, Agent Orange.

Breman says he was off duty that day.

"I lost three, you know, and there are a lot of times I feel like that should have been me," he said.

Not only does the Vietnam Veteran live with post-traumatic stress disorder, doctors say he suffers severe pain from his exposure to Agent Orange.

"I get pressure in my head and it feels like it's going to explode," he said. "Terrible, terrible, ringing in my ears. Nothing relieves the pain."

To make it worse, he struggles to get medical treatment for his condition.

So he came to the 2NEWS Problem Solvers.

We took his complaints to the VA and asked them to look into his problem further. Just a month later, he got a call from a patient advocate at the VA. They set up an appointment on a day when he could get a ride and promised to take care of his transportation after his surgery.

"Twelve months and you all did it in a month," he said. "I'm really, really, appreciative, very, very, and thankful for the help."
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