Crews on C-123 planes after the Vietnam War Battle Agent Orange

VA Is Bracing for a New Front in the Agent Orange Battle
National Journal
Jordain Carney
October 8, 2014

In 2011, Wes Carter was talking to a handful of friends when he realized they had something in common: They all flew on the C-123 planes after the Vietnam War, and they were all sick.

During the Vietnam War, C-123s were used to spray the herbicide Agent Orange. Although the planes were being used for cargo and medical flights by the time Carter served after the war, he and his fellow veterans believe their illnesses—which range from diabetes to cancer—are tied to their time on the planes between 1972 and 1982.

“We were physically scraping goop from nooks and crannies trying to get the thing as clean as possible, because there’s quite an odor to it,” said Carter, 68, who flew on a C-123 plane and believes that his prostate cancer and heart disease are tied to his time in the service.

So far, C-123 veterans have had little luck getting their disability claims granted.

Last year, C-123 pilot Paul Bailey, who died in October 2013 after suffering from prostate cancer, became the first of Carter’s group to get his exposure to Agent Orange recognized without having to seek help from the Board of Veterans Appeals.
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VA appointment 2 years after Vietnam Vet died

In all fairness, this veteran was being treated by the VA but the veteran and his wife wanted care closer to home and that is what they were waiting for. It wasn't a case of waiting to be seen. Just goes to show what you can do with a title,,,,,,

Veteran finally gets VA appointment 2 years after his death
The Washington Times
By Jessica Chasmar
Tuesday, July 1, 2014

The Department of Veterans Affairs has issued an apology after a Massachusetts widow received a letter offering her husband an appointment almost two years after he died.

Doug Chase, a Vietnam veteran, was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2011, his widow Suzanne, of Acton, told a CBS affiliate in Boston.

In 2012, Mrs. Chase said she tried to move her husband’s medical care from Boston to the VA hospital in Bedford, so they could be closer to home, but they waited four months and never heard anything. He died in August 2012.

Ms. Chase said she received a letter in the mail two weeks ago that was addressed to her husband, saying he could call to make an appointment.

“It was 22 months too late, I kind of thought I was in the twilight zone when I opened this letter and read it,” she told the news station.
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Special investigation into link between ECM and cancer after soldier died

Former soldier's cancer death sparks AMA calls for investigation into bomb signal jammer
Updated Tue Jun 11, 2013
ABC News

The Australian Medical Association wants an investigation into the military's use of a special bomb-jamming device after a former soldier died of cancer.

Kevin Dillon, 28, died after returning from Afghanistan, where he carried what is known as an electronic countermeasures (ECM) backpack.

The backpack contained radio transmitters, which are used to scramble the mobile phone signals insurgents use to detonate improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton says there needs to be follow-up for soldiers who use them.

"These people have put their lives on the line for Australia," he said.
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Six Marines served together at Camp Lejeune, only one is healthy now

Local Marines die, face health issues years after service at Camp Lejeune
Nov 15, 2012
Written by
Roger Weeder

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Section 7, Site 584 is where you will find Robin Yerdon's final resting place at Jacksonville's National Cemetery.

He's one of six Terry Parker High graduates who joined the Marines in 1977. Of the six, three are dead, two have serious health issues following their service at Camp Lejeune. Only one is healthy.

Kyle Yerdon said dad never talked much about Camp Lejeune.

"I'm just really devastated that it all happened, really. I don't understand how our government could ever think about covering that up," Kyle Yerdon said.

PART 1: First Coast vets speak out on impact of contaminated water at Camp Lejeune

Kyle and his brother no longer have a dad. Kyle said he is just learning details of the tainted ground water at Camp Lejeune that likely explains what happened.

A million gallons of aviation fuel that leaked with benzene, vinyl chloride and tetrcloroenthylene is causing health issues. Marines and their families who can prove they spent at least one month on base some time turning a 30-year span starting in 1957 are eligible for help.
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Veteran of 4 armed services dies on Fourth of July

Veteran of 4 armed services dies on Fourth of July
By KVAL News
Published Jul 9, 2012

FLORENCE, Ore. - Ron Mossholder, a veteran of four different armed services, died on the Fourth of July from lung cancer.

He would have turned 85 on July 14.

Services for Mossholder are planned Aug. 11 at 2 p.m. at the Three Rivers Casino.

Tom Adams from KVAL News interviewed Mossholder in May after a caregiver discovered Mossholder's interesting past.

Mossholder was honorably discharged from the Navy, Merchant Marines, Coast Guard and Army; once sparred with Muhammed Ali; and helped manage the cleanup after the Exxon Valez oil spill.
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Medal of Honor, Nick Bacon, passed away after cancer battle at age 64

Nick Bacon, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, dies at 64
Saturday, July 17th, 2010
By BNO News
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS (BNO NEWS) -- Medal of Honor recipient and former Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs Director Nick Bacon died on Saturday morning, the department said. He was 64.

The Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs said the retired U.S. Army First Sergeant died after a long fought battle with cancer at the age of 64.


Bacon served in the U.S. Army from 1963 to 1984 and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Richard Nixon for his actions during an August 26, 1968 battle near Tam Ky in Vietnam.

"Bacon distinguished himself while serving as a squad leader with the 1st Platoon, Company B, during an operation west of Tam Ky," the citation with the Medal read. "When Company B came under fire from an enemy bunker line to the front, S/Sgt. Bacon quickly organized his men and led them forward in an assault."
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Nick Bacon Congressional Medal of Honor

Vietnam vet's widow is still waiting

Barbara Hollingsworth: Vietnam vet's widow is still waiting
By: Barbara Hollingsworth
Local Opinion Editor
May 11, 2010
If anybody deserves government health care, it's members of the armed services who literally put their lives on the line for their country. But the government's promise to take care of wounded and sick warriors has too often been an empty one. The Veterans Administration is notorious for red tape that keeps veterans from actually receiving the health benefits they were promised.

Here's just one example: For many years, the Navy provided sailors with government-subsidized cigarettes, which they could purchase for just five cents a carton. So seven months before Vietnam veteran Robert Krone died from end-stage lung disease on Aug. 20, 1998, the VA admitted that his emphysema "is not questioned as being service connected."

Eight months before his death -- and three weeks before the VA stopped accepting tobacco-related claims -- Krone got a call from a VA employee telling him that his tobacco claim had finally been approved and the check would be in the mail within 10 days. His wife, Bessie, who was caring for her terminally ill husband, dashed off a letter thanking former Montgomery Service Center manager Jack Downes and his staff.

Thirteen years later, the check has still not arrived.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: Vietnam vet's widow is still waiting

Maj. J. Scott Sanford falls to cancer at age 37

Former Misawa Security Forces chief falls to cancer at age 37
Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, October 29, 2008



Former 35th Security Forces Squadron commander Maj. J. Scott Sanford died Friday at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii while battling cancer.

He was 37.

Misawa Air Base will hold a memorial service at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Mokuteki Community Center ballroom, base officials said Monday.

Sanford led Misawa security forces from June 2007 until August.

"The men and women of the 35th Security Forces Squadron wish to extend their deepest sympathy to Major Sanford’s friends and family," stated Capt. Jeffery Day, 35th Security Forces commander, who worked for Sanford at Misawa. "We were fortunate to have him as our commander for a year and value everything he has done for our defenders, Misawa, the Air Force and our great country."
go here for more
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58449

One month from today, 9-11 7 years later

This is one of the sites the Bush administration would rather you did not see when you remember the day heroes rushed in while others were running away. They came from all over to help after one of the most traumatic events this nation had ever seen and many did it without pay then or pay back after. They are the police, firemen and first responders who spent weeks on end searching for the remains of the fallen and the civilians. They have been paying for it all ever since. They were volunteers for the most part and are not compensated by workmen's comp. Their health has kept far too many of them from working and most of them have received no financial help at all. All of this after they were called heroes after 9-11. They breathed in air the government knew could kill them and then deserted them. When the bell tolls a month from today, when the names are read of the fallen, remember these men and women and those who paid the price for their service to NY that day. They died and are dying for attention but no one wants to remember any of them in the position to take care of them.

There were contractors who rushed in from all over the country as well just trying to whatever they could and they are dying as well. Who is doing anything about any of this after all this time?

Here is just one picture you'll see on this site.

I'd like my wife to be remembered as a person who wasn't afraid to do her job, and her most important thing was the kids. Really, everything she did was for our two kids. When it came time to do her job she did her job, no questions asked. She was a very good mother, a good wife, and an excellent paramedic." - Husband David Reeve, FDNY Paramedic

The wake for FDNY Paramedic Deborah Reeve, who died of cancer from working at Ground Zero after 9/11. The Bronx, New York, 3/19/2006.

http://www.sohoblues.com/9-11-Still-Killing.html