Agent Orange (The Vietnam War)

Undoubtedly, the jungle terrain was a tremendous obstacle for the Americans in fighting the war. For that reason, they fought it by all means possible.
The best, but also the most controversial weapon in their arsenal were chemical defoliants such as ‘Agent Orange’.

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Credit:
Created by Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London)
Script: Dejan Milivojevic
Narrator:

Chris Kane

Music Credit:

Sources:
Wilcox, Fred A. Scorched Earth: Legacies of Chemical Warfare in Vietnam. Seven Stories Press, 2011.
Tucker, Spencer. The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO, 2011.
Wiest, Andrew. The Vietnam War 1956-1975 Andrew Wiest. Osprey, 2002.
Buckingham, William A. Jr. "Operation Ranch Hand: The Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast Asia, 1961-1971." The SHAFR Guide Online. doi:10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim170170073.
Stellman, Jeanne Mager, et al. “The Extent and Patterns of Usage of Agent Orange and Other Herbicides in Vietnam.” Nature, vol. 422, no. 6933, 2003, pp. 681–687., doi:10.1038/nature01537.

[mystier]

If you go to Vietnam, there’s are schools for children who is affected by Agent Orange, they are the forth generation victims. Most of them lost the ability to speak, hear, see or move. Some even have neurological problems or deformed body. Few kids I met there were told not be able to live pass teenage hood because of that. That’s the biggest consequences of that chemical, to be able to last through generations, not just causing death to those who interacted.

[unclesam]

My old school janitor was a Vietnam War veteran and he passed away last year due to copd and lung cancer as a result of exposure to Agent Orange. R.I.P my best friend ever.

[keithdean]

My father's best friend was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. One of his duties was to spray Agent Orange, He died a few years ago of pancreatic cancer. My father says it took that war over 50 years but it finally killed him.

[ethanor]

Remember class: It's not a horrific warcrime if YOU do it

[Spongebrain]

One time at work a few months back I saw a Vietnam War Vet who wore a hat signifying that he was involved with Agent Orange. It also said "Sprayed and Betrayed".

[jla]

My uncle died from the effects of agent orange in 2017 his daughter had birth defects too and died in 2002. He was finally repaid by the government for his illness in 2005. Almost 40 years

[Wyatt-otwo]

One thing really depressing that just yesterday my great uncle died from multiple sclerosis which he got from agent orange during his time in Vietnam.

[NguyenMinh-mpjx]

The Vietnamese usually say that: We forgive but never forget.

[TheArklyte]

Americans: it's not a chemical weapon, it's a defoliant.
Germans: Hans, I think we have missed a great opportunity to deploy sarin based de-icer at Stalingrad...

[crazyman-dgwh]

"I know what you're thinking; what's in the canister?"

[InuKirinMike]

Less known fact is that Agent Orange actually made its debut during the Korean War. My grandfather, who passed away in 2018, served in the Navy during Korea and was exposed to Agent Orange. He developed leukemia and it was caused by Agent Orange, its been 3 years and his death is still felt.

[GuderII]

Geneva Convention exist

American in Vietnam : *You mean Geneva Suggestion*

[akillerpacman]

My grandfather had Agent Orange exposure. His back was all colored orange and is back was all messed up too. He died from complications from it. Rip Cpl. Kevin John Grimley 1947-2006 miss you still.

[kevinnorwood]

Two years ago, my grandfather passed away after losing his fight with Prostate Cancer, which he received thanks to exposure to Agent Orange.

[_Matsimus_]

Agent Brown is the process of army portapotties being tipped while youre inside it. A highly effective combat method.

[SleepingForestGaming]

I went to the Vietnam war museum in Saigon and there was this one floor with pictures of people/kids effected by agent orange. The air in that room was stiff, not a sound but you could see peoples eyes watering at the sight of horrific acts of war

[kyleshiflet]

Sadly we just lost a resident at the Veterans home I work at 2 nights to cancer brought on by Agent Orange he will be missed he was a sweet old man

[BNVodkaFPS]

My uncle was a transport driver through the Ho Chi Minh trail (we called it the Trường Sơn road) from 1962 to 1970. In his diary he wrote: The first time i'm receive my task to transport the ammunition from Quang Tri to Tay Ninh, the road, it full of mud, and there is no green trees, only burning trees, some trees is look burning but when i come closer it those trees looks like being melting. It hard to breath in this road, at first we though it just because the smoke of their naparm, but after 2 years of doing this job, my heart start getting hurt anytimes i'm smoking cigaritte, my arm skin start change to brown, and sometimes it so painful, i can't stop scratching. Some of my comrade got the same things but we don't know anything and keep moving.
My uncle died in 1971, after his truck getting hit by artilery, he had been killed by shell shrapnel, one of his friends return his diary to our family.
Respect to all veterans of the war, from both sides, they have lost something back here.

[tonyphan]

Everyone talking about how it effected the American soldiers but what it did to the Vietnamese people was much more horrific.

[NanaJelinic]

I just visited the War remnants museum in Saigon, today, and being born disabled myself, I wanted to know more about Agent Orange... the pictures were just... I couldn't stop crying... to see all those kids born this way and having to suffer like this for the rest of their lives because the greed of men is just heart breaking...

And what's worst .. men still haven't learned their lesson after all the lives wars have taken...