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Page 1 of 2 Oct 28, 2013 12:59:38PM MDT
Vietnam veterans still fighting a war against Agent Orange
Written by Cheryl Makin @Cheryl Makin
Oct. 28, 2013 8:33 AM | dailyrecord.com
Terry and Mike La Morte traveled from Bradley Beach to hear the meetings information and called it
extremely important. Mike La Morte filed a claim with the Veterans Administration a year ago after
participating in an Agent Orange screening two years ago in New York.
My husband had two tours in Vietnam. He has had a lot of ailments, such as cancer and diabetes, said
Terry La Morte, who listed a variety of serious conditions and diseases that her grandchildren suffer from.
We filed a claim for him, but we are very concerned about our children and grandchildren. Im just upset.
You can understand.
Wayne Cherwinski of Somerville, who served with the Marine Corps from 1967 to 1968 in Vietnam was on
hand to speak about his friend Bill Gute.
Bill would drop it out of the helicopter. He got it all over him, he said. At 25, he got one cancer. Went
into remission and at age 30, he got another kind of cancer. By 32, he was dead. It had to be related to
Agent Orange.
Educational material from the VVA was available as was a list of 162 reported illnesses that grandchildren
of Vietnam veterans suffer. The list was compiled by the organization Children of Vietnam Veterans
Health Alliance. Panelists and participants alike spoke of diagnoses in their children and grandchildren of
food allergies, Crohns disease, sensory disorders, autism, hyperactivity, cysts, cancers and skin disease,
all of which were found on the COVVHA list. Only one, spina bifida, is listed as directly connected to Agent
Orange/dioxin according to the government, said Eckstein.
Before a combined testimonial and question and answer period, experts from the national and state VVA
organizations spoke about Agent Orange-related topics such as its history, particularly of the birth defects
left in its wake, and research and legislation pertaining to Agent Orange.
VVA National Agent Orange Committee Special Advisor Paul Sutton explained that Agent Orange was
sprayed by helicopter and ground from January 1961 to January 1971.
That is 22 million gallons of different kinds of herbicides. Eighteen million gallons of Agent Orange, he
said. We did a job. We went to a not-so-nice place and served our year or 13 months and some did it
twice. We come home, we get out and tried to get on with it and here we stand 30, 40 years later as we try
to figure out what the hell happened.
Sutton said that it boils down to that 40 years later, we are fighting to try to make some sense of this and
get what is entitled to us.
We say to the government I served in the military. I went where you sent me and I was exposed to
something dangerous to my health, he said.
Veterans were encouraged to register with the Agent Orange registry and NJSC Chief Service Officer
Margaret Wojciechowicz helped veterans and their families file claims. More information on Agent Orange
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20131028/NJNEWS10/310280013/Vietnam-veterans-still-fighting-war-against-Agent-Orange
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and its toxic consequences can be found at vva.org/Committees/AgentOrange/