A 68-year-old Air Force veteran, now suffering from cancers
and auto-immune diseases, said he sprayed “hundreds of thousands of
gallons” of the toxic herbicide Agent Orange on Guam while stationed at
Andersen Air Force Base in the 1960s and '70s.
Florida’s NBC News Channel 8 aired a news report Jan.
4 in which Leroy Foster, who lives in Lakeland, Florida, said he “bears
enormous guilt for exposing other veterans and their families.”
According
to the report, Foster was assigned to vegetation control while
stationed at Andersen. He said he sprayed “two and three trailer fulls”
of the herbicide a day “along the flight line, sidewalks, fences, fuel
tank farms and barracks” at the base.
Foster said he was told the chemical was harmless enough “that I could brush my teeth in it, wouldn’t hurt anybody.”
Foster
said he now suffers from 33 diseases, including rectal cancer, colon
cancer, thyroid cancer, bladder cancer, prostate cancer and numerous
autoimmune disorders.
The report also stated Foster’s grandchild was born with 24 fingers and toes.
As
of 2003, the military hadn't reported using or storing Agent Orange on
Guam, Pacific Daily News files show. Veterans of Vietnam may receive
benefits based on exposure to Agent Orange, but those who claim exposure
on Guam must provide proof of dates and locations of exposure. But
because no official verification of the presence of Agent Orange on Guam
has been issued, even if veterans can provide dates and locations as
evidence, they still may be denied benefits.
For example,
in a ruling issued by the Department of Veterans Affairs in Hartford,
Connecticut, on Aug. 12, 2015, one veteran’s Agent Orange claim was
denied precisely because he alleged that exposure occurred on Guam, not
in Vietnam or Korea: “As he has not asserted, and as the record does not
reflect, that he served in the Republic of Vietnam or in Korea during
the Vietnam Era, the presumption of herbicide exposure is inapplicable.”
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