There may never be a full accounting for the Vietnam War

There may never be a full accounting for the Vietnam War
by
Chaplain Kathie

They died and are still dying because of Agent Orange. Their numbers are not on the Wall but as you can see, many died because they were there, deployed into combat zones. Had they not been sent there, had the military not used Agent Orange, they would not have died because of their service. Their children, born with illnesses connected to Agent Orange, would not have happened.

The numbers on the Vietnam Memorial Wall keeps growing because some died as a result of being wounded in Vietnam. Imagine the next time you see the Wall if the numbers of Agent Orange related deaths were included.

This came out in 1984.

Agent Orange Review Information for Veterans Who Served in Vietnam October 1984

Vietnam Veteran Mortality Study
VA is conducting a Vietnam veteran mortality study to compare the mortality patterns and specific causes of death between veterans who served in Vietnam and veterans without Vietnam service.
It is estimated that approximately 300,000 Vietnam and Vietnam-Era veterans have died since the start of the Vietnam confiict.
This number includes approximately 52,000 combat deaths.
VA has used computer records to identify a group of approximately
75,000 deceased veterans who served during the Vietnam Era (1964-1975). Cause-of-death data have been obtained from death certificates, and histories of military, service have been obtained from military records.
VA recently received approval from the National Center for Health Statistics to use the National Death Index. This information will assist VA in developing a death certificate-search mechanism for veterans whose records cannot be found by other methods.
The Social Security Administration has agreed to search its records to verify the vital status of untraced veterans for the study and to assist in determining their place of death.
Various VA departments and offices are providing assistance in the death certificate search.
All fifty states have indicated their willingness to search their records and locate veterans' death certificates, if needed.
The mortality study will determine whether Vietnam veterans have died from unusual diseases or as a result of specific causes -such
as suicide or cancer -- in higher than expected proportions.
VA projects that the study will be completed in 1985.



Since Public Law 97-72 was signed in November 1981, VA has provided hospital care or nursing home care, as well as outpatient care, which is designed to prepare a veteran for hospital care, provide
post-hospitalization followup care or prevent hospitalization. Such health care services are provided without regard to the veteran's age, service-connected status or the veteran's inability to defray the costs of such care elsewhere. More than 20,000 inpatient admissions and more than one million outpatient visits have occurred for the treatment of illnesses or disabilities possibly related to Agent Orange exposure. These statistics represent numbers of admissions and outpatient visits, not the actual number of veterans receiving treatment. Based on average use rates, it is estimated that in fiscal year 1982, approximately 6,000 veterans were hospitalized and approximately 62,000 were seen as outpatients. In fiscal year 1983, approximately 6,900 veterans were hospitalized and 73,000 were seen as outpatients. These two groups -- inpatients and outpatients -may include some of the same individuals. Only limited data are available for the current fiscal year, but the information to date suggests that the level of inpatient admissions will be reduced, while the number of outpatient visits will be somewhat higher than that experienced during fiscal years 1982 and 1983.
http://www.publichealth.va.gov/docs/agentorange/reviews/ao_newsletter_oct84.pdf

Some names are added, but not enough are.

Names Added to Vietnam Memorial

Week of May 10, 2010

The names of six American servicemembers were recently added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The new additions are veterans who survived serious injury in the War but were determined by Defense Department officials to have "died as a result of wounds [combat or hostile related] sustained in the combat zone." The engravings for 11 other servicemembers will be modified to reflect that they are no longer considered missing in action. The six new names will become official when they are read aloud during the annual Memorial Day ceremony May 31. For more information on the Memorial, visit the National Parks Service Vietnam Veterans Memorial webpage.

Find ways to support and honor U.S. military servicemembers and veterans who protect our security and freedom. Visit the Military.com Support our Troops Web page.

These deaths won't be fully counted either. This came out in 1978. It is from the same report above and what I have based all these years of research on. It also helped me live with it in my own home when the Vietnam War became part of my life as the wife of a Vietnam Vet.

There are many things we knew for a very long time about PTSD but what we don't really know is how many committed suicide because of the Vietnam War. We don't know how many died having flashbacks on the road driving and were killed in accidents because of it. We don't know how many drank themselves to death because there was no help for them to ease their minds. Think of them when you look at the Wall and know, as sad as it is to see all those names, there are many more names that will never be added.


What is more troubling is that we don't know how many died in all other wars because of what we call PTSD but they called "nostalgia" or "soldier's heart" or "shell shock" in different times and different places, going where they were sent, doing what they were sent to do, but then returning to a nation wanting to forget.