A new
interactive map could help ill Vietnam veterans who served on U.S. ships
during the war determine whether they could be eligible for Agent
Orange-related benefits.
A retired Navy chief radioman has teamed with a
Florida-based law firm to make the map available to “blue water” Vietnam
veterans, their widows and anyone interested in seeing where Navy and Coast
Guard vessels served offshore during the decade-long conflict.
The information, said Ed Ball, director of research for
Military Veterans Advocacy Inc., could be useful for determining whether a ship
served in the waters designated by the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of
2019.
The law, signed June 25 by President Donald Trump, allows
former service members who served on a ship that operated within 12 nautical
miles of a line of demarcation established by law and have an illness presumed
related to herbicide exposure apply for health benefits and disability compensation.
Ball told Military Times he has worked on the map for four
years, poring over Navy ship logs and plotting the vessels’ coordinates along
with the dates the ships sailed within the designated zone.
By clicking through the map, for example, veterans can learn
that the aircraft carrier America served within the limits in December 1972
near Da Nang. The Coast Guard high endurance cutter Bering Strait crossed into
the designated waters once in 1968 and three times in 1970.
“Over 1,700 deck logs have been plotted to date, and we
continue to add new information from the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans
Association master list of deck logs,” Ball said.
The map is hosted by the disability law firm Hill &
Ponton. Numerous law firms vie to assist veterans in drafting and filing
disability claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs; many veterans
service organizations provide similar assistance free of charge.
Matthew Hill, managing partner at the firm said Hill &
Ponton decided to support Ball’s efforts to assist veterans.
“Improving
transparency and simplifying access to this data is essential as we support the
Vietnam veterans … now suffering the effects” of Agent Orange exposure, Hill
said in a release.
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