Last year, Vietnam vets received nearly $2 billion dollars in federal disability payments. Research institutions from the National Academy of Sciences to UC Davis have studied how dioxin affects the health of American-born vets. But not one of the studies has involved Vietnamese American veterans, and no one knows how many might be affected by Agent Orange.
Luc Nguyen says he feels like a second-class citizen.
“I paid a very high price,” he said. “I come here and the American government, the Veterans Administration–they say they don’t know me. And they don’t want to know about this issue. It’s clearly a betrayal.”
Many Vietnamese-Americans say they know former soldiers who have cancers or have died of cancer. But few speak of it. For one, it’s taboo to admit having cancer. And there’s political pressure within the community not to talk about Agent Orange.
Many are reluctant to say anything against the US government, who after all helped them defend their homeland. Demanding help for Agent Orange-related diseases is like siding with Vietnam’s communist government, against America.
San Jose resident Vicky Nguyen lost her adult daughter and husband–a former soldier–to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But Nguyen said she didn’t speak about it for years, not wanting to seem unpatriotic to the United States. “They brought us here,” she said. “I’m better off than those who stayed behind.”
But after Nguyen’s husband died, she got a $10,000 medical bill, and began to wonder how many other families were suffering like hers.
“No one was speaking up so I didn’t dare say anything either,” Nguyen said. “You put the noose around your neck, twist your mouth shut so you don’t say anything. But I am full of resentment.”
Now cancer-free, retired general Louis Wagner says the US has turned its back on its allies.
“These Vietnamese that served alongside us and are living in the US, I think there should be some compensation for them,” Wagner said. “They’re not going to get anything from Vietnam, we know that.”
Now, the plight of former South Vietnamese soldiers is attracting attention in Congress. Congressman Mike Honda, whose district includes San Jose, says he’s willing to meet with former South Vietnamese soldiers and their families to consider legislation that would extend them benefits.
“Nothing’s too good for our veterans,” Honda said. “That same attitude should be provided to the all the veterans we’ve created and those who have fought with us.”
One man who’d like to testify for that legislation is 38-year-old Trung, from San Jose. Trung and his brother both have cancers that are on the VA list of diseases associated with Agent Orange. Trung isn’t using his full name, because he doesn’t want the community to know about the cancer in his bone marrow. He says he’s bitter about the US neglect.
“I don’t think know they think very much of us now,” Trung said. “Even though we now pay taxes or become us citizen. I don’t know they care.”
After 35 years of silence, Trung and other Vietnamese-Americans are now beginning to demand equal treatment for the wounds of war that refuse to heal.
Original Source: The Forgotten Ones: A Legacy of Agent Orange | California Report
More on Agent Orange: Vietnam Reporting Project and Make Agent Orange History.
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