Navy personnel served in the
offshore waters on battle stations providing continuous naval gunfire support,
search and rescue, and aircraft carrier support and protection.
In January of 1991, the United
States Congress, by unanimous consent of both House and Senate, passed a law
acknowledging that components of herbicides (mainly Agent Orange) extensively
sprayed over the Vietnamese countryside were the cause of major health problems
to all of the men who fought that war.
In 2002, without consulting
Congress, the Department of Veterans Affairs revoked the eligibility for
Vietnam War veterans who did not set foot in Vietnam to receive VA benefits for
service-connected disabilities granted by that law.
These offshore veterans are dying in
poverty because of medical bills that should have been covered by their VA
benefits. They are dying without the dignity and respect they deserve as
disabled American veterans.
This is an issue the American public
needs to know about, so they can demand their congressional representatives
support legislation currently before the House (HR-299) and Senate (S-422) that
would restore these lost VA benefits.
Kirk Johnson, Vietnam veteran,
Visalia, California
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