http://www.capjournal.com/news/vietnam-diseases-spreading-to-vets-children/article_ca2398c4-d693-11e4-aed7-5fa5d34768db.html
“I got married in ’77. We had a child; four years later, he died,” said Joe Keller of Redfield.
His next two
children were all right, but now that they’re having children of their
own, his grandchildren are beginning to have problems. One was born with
webbed fingers, he said.
David Kloucek of Tabor cited similar problems.
“My wife and I have nine
children. Well, all five of our daughters had dysplasia. They had to
have all or part of their female organs removed. Our grandchildren have
epilepsy, one of them. No idea where that traces back to. Skin cancer on
one of my boys when he was in high school. Tourette’s on one of the
boys,” he said.
Several Vietnam veterans from
South Dakota spoke up Saturday afternoon as they gathered at the state
capital for a homecoming weekend. One of the events was a forum on Agent
Orange, and these vets described various birth defects their children —
and even their grandchildren — have suffered.
The list is endless, and
heartbreaking. A girl who was born without any valves in her bladder. A
boy who breaks out in a rash every four months. Autism. Cancer.
Miscarriage. Stillborn. A grandson born without a thyroid. A woman,
fully grown and healthy all her life — until one of her kidneys stopped
working.
Agent Orange was a defoliant used
liberally during the Vietnam War. American soldiers were exposed to it,
and years later, they began developing serious health problems.
And now, their children are
beginning to develop health problems, too, said Jack Kempter, president
of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 1054 in Waubay.
Kempter has had two operations
for cancer, both of them caused by Agent Orange. Now research has shown
that the contamination may last for five or more generations — meaning
great-grandchildren could be affected.
The same is likely true of every soldier who went to Vietnam.
“If you were boots on the ground in Vietnam, you were exposed to Agent Orange,” he said.
But that’s not all. People who
served on Navy ships may also have been exposed if the ship docked in
Vietnam. Or if the ship was just off the coast, since the ships took on
sea water which may have been tainted. The equipment to desalinate the
water did not remove the Agent Orange.
Maynard Kaderlik, of the Vietnam Veterans of America Minnesota State Council, put it simply.
“There’s a lot of veterans who
don’t know that what happened to them — Agent Orange — is happening to
their kids and grandkids. We want to educate them,” he said.
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