Letters

It’s always nice to see your past work published, even for a sad tale like our history with Agent Orange. I shot the photo that’s on page 33 of the March/April issue on July 26, 1969, for a story my photo unit was doing on defoliation. The Huey was with the 336th Av. Co. out of Can Tho down in the Delta. I guess I didn’t get sprayed, as so far I have not developed any signs of exposure.

As a member of the Army unit, D.A. Special Photo Office (DASPO), I was afforded a unique view of the Vietnam War over a period of two years. I followed that experience with a forty-year career in newspaper photography, doing the last thirty at The Philadelphia Inquirer. During those years I covered Vietnam-related stories that included the arrival of Vietnamese refugees to Eglin AF Base in 1975, the Gainesville Eight antiwar trial in 1973, the dedication of the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982, plus other memorials in Philadelphia and its suburbs.

My Army experience helped me find my profession and lifelong passion. Thank you for using my photo from the National Archives in College Park.

Bryan Grigsby
Bordentown, New Jersey

I read with interest Paul Sutton’s article in the March/April issue on Agent Orange use in Vietnam. While I read horror stories of those affected by this toxic herbicide, it appears that the VA and our elected government representatives care less. It will cost money, and they do not want to fund it.

Organizations that represent the military men and women affected by this toxic agent have focused on the Vietnam veteran. But what about the Thailand vets of the Vietnam War?

Many veterans who were stationed in Thailand supporting the war effort were exposed to Agent Orange. AO was used in Thailand, although rarely acknowledged.

S.2105 and H.R.4843 seek to modify the presumption of service connection for veterans who were exposed to herbicide agents while serving in the armed forces in Thailand during the Vietnam era, and for other purposes.

Like our brother and sister vets from Vietnam, we, the veterans of Thailand, want acknowledgement of exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides.

Rod Martin
By Email

Paul Sutton has agreed to write about Agent Orange use in the rest of Southeast Asia for the September/October issue. —Editor

It is with great interest and satisfaction that I read each issue of The Veteran, and I consider it one of the most important publications that comes to my mailbox. I offer a big “thank you” for the Mary Stout and Paul Sutton articles in the March/April issue. This information needs desperately to be out there and should be required reading for all politicians. Good luck with that, right?

Equally important is a well-deserved acknowledgement of book reviewer Marc Leepson for his honesty and excellence.

In his review of A War Remembered, he rightly called out author Mark Updegrove for glad-handing Henry Kissinger, the biggest, most pompous political fool our generation has seen. Kissinger is, in my opinion, directly responsible for many servicemen existing in name only on The Wall.

This self-centered phony intellectual apparently advised a string of half-witted, conniving American policymakers on the disaster called the Vietnam Conflict. Let’s remember, Congress never declared it a war.

I had the privilege of working in the network news division where Walter Cronkite, “the most trusted man in America,” also worked, and whose television commentary is credited with helping bring the Vietnam engagement to its sorry and costly conclusion.

I saw and heard much that was never broadcast, but which came to light in the Pentagon Papers to the dismay of a duped and betrayed American public.

Ted Angell
Westover, Maryland

The Milwaukee Brewers have a “Hero of the Game” at every home game, and it’s usually a veteran.

I was honored last June in front of about 30,000 fans, standing on top of the dugout during the third inning with my grandsons. The PA announcer read a bio with details of my service, plus pictures on the big screen of the Miller Park scoreboard. I was drafted into the Army in August 1967, and served in Vietnam from January 1968 to March 1969 with the 543rd Transportation Company in Thu Duc

My brother, Jim, was responsible for setting it up with the Brewers. My family, relatives, and friends shared in this recognition.

It was really an honor.

Paul F. Miller
Harshaw, Wisconsin

I just read Claudia Gary’s article, “Pursuing Morpheus: Drugs, Dreams, and Sleep Disorders Among Vietnam Veterans.” I suffer from all the things she mentioned, and now I know why I have been going crazy lately. I have been thinking about ending my life because of the pain I have been suffering. 

I have been treated by the VA for PTSD since 2010. I have tinnitus, and tomorrow I am getting my sleep mask. I couldn’t believe I picked up The Veteran and somehow my eye caught Gary’s article. I believe it saved my life, and I will be on a mission to bring this out because I don’t believe the VA understands this.

John “Wolfie” Wolf
By Email

In his reports in the last two issues [1][2], President Rowan told of his visit to Ireland, which included a stop at the Irish Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I paused and reflected back to my tour in Vietnam, September 1966-67. I held a special friendship with one soldier whose name appears on that wall as both our wives were pregnant at the time. We spoke often of this, which took our minds off of some unpleasant times.

Timothy Daly was our first casualty while we were north of Tuy Hoa. It was a sad day for A Battery, 5th Battalion, 16th Artillery of the 4th Infantry Division. He will always be remembered by me and now by all who visit this memorial.

Barry Campbell
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania

I am the spouse of a Vietnam veteran and would like to commend you for taking the small but significant—and no doubt controversial to your readership—steps toward including stories about veterans who are not white, male, and 75 years old.

Your committees don’t yet reflect this diversity, but your choices of stories can help introduce to your readers the differences and the strengths that are critical to an effective military effort.

Your recent article about Veronika Fimbres was very well done and must’ve made many people uncomfortable or angry. You will surely take a hit in the short term, as the fear of those who “don’t look or act like me” is pervasive. But you’re helping to move the needle by not shying away from your journalistic responsibilities in informing and educating your readership.

I appreciate your bravery in this regard.

Betsy Bleakie
Manchester Center, Vermont 

Just had to write. The irony of having the Trump Commemorative Coin offer on the back cover of the March/April issue with the article on the VA hospitals and privatization of the VA just tickled my funny bone. Unfortunately, Trump promptly fired the “gifted Secretary of Veterans Affairs, David Shulkin,” to quote the article.

I stopped laughing when I realized the article hit the nail on the head: Trump, at the urging of the Koch Brothers, will destroy the VA. And I feel sorry for all the vets who went to Trump rallies and stood with “Veterans for Trump” signs, because that, my friends, is coming back to bite you in the butt.

David R. Battaglia
Western New York

I am a drafted and wounded Vietnam veteran with eleven months of combat as an Eleven Bravo.

I have enjoyed reading The VVA Veteran and using the Locator to learn about my brothers-in-arms. Thank you.

But the last issue, with its ad on the back page honoring with a gold coin a draft dodger, is disrespectful to all Vietnam veterans—especially those who experienced combat up close and personal while Cadet Bone Spur was grabbing all the women he could. I am sure our 58,000 brothers are looking down in disgust. Not only to honor a draft dodger, but also one who wants to tear apart our VA system to privatize it so his billionaire friends make more money.

I realize you use ads to fund this publication, but there are limits on who you should accept money from.

I hereby resign from VVA.

Peter P. Joyce Jr.
Leland, North Carolina

The commemorative coin honors the current President of the United States. We may not agree with his policies, but that’s no reason to reject a product ad—especially not from a valued, longtime advertiser who has offered many products to our readers over the years.

We can ban classes of ads. For example, years ago we put a stop to erectile dysfunction and marital aid ads. But for occasional products that cause us to pause, we believe it wiser to let the market take its course. —Editor

In “Hail to Vietnam War Veterans,” Mr. Leepson writes a great article, but leaves out the fact that we are never welcomed home by our own generation. It is always from the younger people. I guarantee that not many of us can honestly say that we have been welcomed home, thanked for our service, or honored in any way, by the draft-card burners, war protesters, hippies, flower children, the cowards who fled to Canada, or anyone else our own age.

He makes it sound like the country has changed its attitude toward us, and it has on a certain level—with the younger generations. But not ours. The people who hated us fifty years ago still hate us today.  

Mike Berzinsky
By Email

After reading William La Monte’s letter “Thanked Enough,” I had a few thoughts I need to convey regarding my own views about the slogan, “Welcome Home.” Whether or not I was welcomed home from Vietnam at the end of 1969 is no longer a concern for me. I was lucky to arrive relatively unscathed. 

It took years for such service-related issues as Agent Orange exposure-related diabetes, survivor’s guilt, and major depression to surface. Unfortunately, more than 58,000 of my fellow servicemen and women never survived long enough to tell the tale. Many others are still suffering and dying from Vietnam War-related injuries, other health issues, and PTSD.

I’ve heard the arguments from our government and other blowhard authorities who insist that Vietnam vets are whiny and their illnesses are not related to their service. Many lives were ruined at the hands of the politicians who sent us to serve and die for nothing.

I only speak for myself, of course, but I say that if you’re not a veteran, spare me the phony platitudes such as “Welcome home” or “Thank you for your service.” I neither desire them nor do I accept them. Politicians and non-serving citizens made their choices long ago. Now, I, as a surviving Vietnam veteran, have to live with them.

David Aronoff
By Email

I have to agree with William La Monte. I think we have been thanked enough. We cannot change the past, but we should look forward to now and the future. I have run many Welcome Home marathons throughout the years for Vietnam veterans. I have had many meals paid for by people grateful for what Vietnam veterans went through. I was drafted, but I have gotten over that terrible experience. Let’s just enjoy the rest of our lives, and help each other get over that terrible experience.

Mike Kendzejeski 
Baltimore, Maryland

So sorry, Mr. LaMonte, that you are tired of hearing “Welcome Home.” As a wife of a Vietnam veteran, I am proud of my husband and I welcome anyone who acknowledges this fact. If you do not want to be recognized or thanked or welcomed home, you need to stop advertising that you are a vet by not wearing anything (clothing or hats) that IDs you as such.

As for me, I will say, “Welcome Home,” “Thank you for your service,” and give a hug for as long as I am able.

Sandy Steer
By Email

Did anyone besides me notice something missing from the “Taps” column and the information about deceased members? The March/April “Taps” has eliminated the age of the deceased member and the reason for death—both standard information items in all previous issues.

Could it be that there is someone out there who doesn’t want to show us that over 53 percent of the veterans (I did the research) listed in previous magazine issues died before their 72nd birthday, and that most died from something Vietnam related (like Agent Orange)? I guess they don’t want us to worry about our mortality.

I guess the question to VVA is: Why were these items removed from “Taps”?

Bill La Monte
By Email

The conspiracy Bill speaks of is called the merciless passage of time. In the last issue we ran two hundred obituaries. Fr. Phil Salois still writes full and complete obituaries, and they can be read on the VVA website at www.vva.org/taps.html But the magazine has a finite number of pages, and competition for that space is keen. While we have simplified the chapter affiliation, we’ve gone back to including ages.

I note the lack of any article or mention of an infamously historical date in your last issue. I am referring to March 16, 1968. Your last issue would have been the 50th anniversary of this tragic incident. I find it a travesty that this occurrence would escape even a minor mention, if not an article on what occurred that day and those responsible for bringing it to the attention of the American public.

I would like to thank WO Hugh Thompson, who first reported this incident to the 123rd Avn. Bn., and his crew members Glenn Androetti and Lawrence Colburn, who saved the remaining survivors of My Lai. Fortunately, Ronald Ridenhour wrote a letter to thirty congressmen a year later, and an investigation was started into the My Lai Massacre.

What insults me is not only was this incident not mentioned, but that villages within the Quang Nagi Province were continuously being eradicated and that My Lai, or Pinkville, was not an isolated incident as the U.S. military would have us believe. I want to say “Thank you” to these brave men who in the face of extreme prejudice stood up to speak the truth. Why would you fail to mention them? This infamous incident begs the question of whom do you serve since it affected many thousands of Vietnam veterans.

Preston Rogers
By Email