CA MAU, Vietnam--A 78-year-old Japanese photojournalist who
documented the vast and ongoing suffering caused by the use of Agent Orange by
the U.S. military during the Vietnam War returned to the jungle here where his
life's work began.
What Goro Nakamura saw, now one of the world's largest
mangrove wetlands, bore little resemblance to how the area looked 43 years ago,
when it was devastated by chemicals sprayed by the U.S. military to remove
cover for the opposing side.
The trip to southern Vietnam in October only reinforced his
commitment to continue calling for accountability and capturing the scars and
aftereffects on younger generations of the years-long operation.
NOT EVEN A BIRD CHIRPING
Nakamura started covering the Vietnam War in 1970. The
conflict ended in 1975, and reunification of the country divided for nearly two
decades was formally completed in 1976.
That year, he arrived at Ca Mau, the country's southernmost
region, having heard about forests dying there and wanting to see it for
himself.
It is believed that the U.S. military sprayed more than 70
million liters of Agent Orange between 1961 and 1971 as part of a sweep
operation to uncover Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces hiding in the
jungle. Ca Mau was one of the targets of the operation.
Nakamura traveled by boat in the waterways of the Cape Ca
Mau jungle. What he discovered took his breath away, something he had only
heard about until then and was now in front of him.
It was dead silent, with not so much as a bird chirping, he
recalled. Nothing but a field of thousands of mangrove trees destroyed by the
chemical attacks.
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