Wounded by the North Vietnamese, Killed by Monsanto

Agent Orange, Vietnam, and the Struggle No American Should Ever Know. Semper fi Edward Evans...

As a Marine in Vietnam, Edward Evans was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in combat. The wounds that killed him were inflicted by American politics and a company called Monsanto.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Edward Evans passed away from brain cancer, Glioblastoma Multiforme (GM) in March of 2003. His wife Sheree has been fighting for widow’s benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for her husband’s cause of death as a result of Agent Orange exposure in the ensuing years.

Sheree and Edward Evans

Marines like Edward Evans were sometimes frequently exposed to the deadly chemical Agent Orange in the Vietnam War, but the government and the deadly chemical's manufacturer Monsanto have fought tooth and nail to avoid responsibility or accountability.

Even when the occasional politician tries to help veterans, others throw roadblocks in the way; blocking funding and support.

While there have been breakthroughs in this fight for transparency and simple honesty regarding Agent Orange, the particular condition that Ed suffered from turned out to be one of the most challenging obstacles for Sheree.

She had to show that his exposure to Agent Orange caused the development of brain cancer.

The Veterans Administration had consistently maintained that brain cancer is not on their list of Agent Orange-related disabilities, and, as a result, that there is no medical link for the development of this specific cancer to Agent Orange Exposure.

US plane loaded with Agent Orange prior to a mission over Vietnam.

In her article published last December by Salem-News.com, Dioxin and Glioblastoma in the Vietnam Veteran Population, Eileen Whitacre described how the tracking of glioblastomas in the aging population of Vietnam veterans exposed to dioxin has been neglected. The poorly researched and nonsensical U.S. AIR FORCE RANCH HAND study has been sighted as evidence. The Seveso Italy incident is also used as evidence.

Read: Monsanto is the Real Food Terror Threat by Chris Hinyub

The TEN YEAR MORTALITY STUDY OF THE POPULATION INVOLVED IN THE SEVSO INCIDENT IN 1976 reported by the American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 129 No.6 states “a significant increased relative risks were noted for peritoneum, pleura, melanoma and brain cancer in the first study period.”

The significant report by Admiral Zumwalt Jr. has been squashed...^[1]

So once again, it is as simple as the fact that the government and its crime partner Monsanto have no adherence to honesty whatsoever.

They have damned well known that there is a serious detectable connection between brain cancer and Agent Orange.

It was a real honor to publish VA Links Brain Cancer to Agent Orange Exposure in Recent Court Decision this week, and today learning that this Marine's name was added to the The Agent Orange Quilt of Tears made my heart soar.

Visit the:Agent Orange Quilt of Tears

The article was a news release from the attorney representing Sheree Evans, widow of Vietnam Marine veteran Edward Evans.^[2]

She made the quilt block for her late husband several years ago, just after Edward passed away. It has been a part of the Agent Orange Quilt Of Tears since early 2004. His block is on Quilt #16.

The Honor Roll can be seen at the link in this paragraph. Sheree & Edward Evans' story is a very familiar one to those who keep up on the politics of Agent Orange.^[3].

We always hear about the way veterans were treated by anti-war people during the Vietnam years. The people who wanted others to stop dying in a war the US had no apparent real interest in winning, are historically held out to dry for "costing" the US the war.

Be it the war's journalists who told the truth of what was taking place, or those who took the time to speak out against it; the right wing actually 'blames' the loss of the Vietnam War on the exposure of the truth, and that is not true.

There was more than one point where the US could have brought the North Vietnamese to their knees but American politicians lacked the political will to win, and that is the truth.

While the civilian populace was unkind to the Vietnam veteran in many respects, much of the talk about anti-war demonstrators spitting on returning veterans was propaganda also^[4].

Map of Vietnam and surrounding SE Asian countries today.

What we seldom hear about is the really ugly side of the story; the part about how people returning from the war in Vietnam were not well regarded by 'The Greatest Generation' - WWII veterans, at least not in the early years.

Few people understood what these veterans had faced in Vietnam. It actually took Sylvester Stallone's role in 'Rambo' to cause the average American to understand what the fighting men of the Vietnam War had attempted to survive.

But that did indeed work, and people younger and older than the Vietnam Generation suddenly had something to gauge the Vietnam veteran's experience against, and this included the WWII people who were about the age of the average Vietnam veteran today; around 60.

The 'Greatest Generation' won the Second World War, but they also dropped two atomic bombs, built internment camps for Japanese-Americans on the west coast, and they kept Blacks segregated in the Armed Forces until 1947.

Equally sinister, this generation also filled the business suits at Monsanto in the 1960's.

These people were responsible for the deadly reckless business practices that led to Agent Orange, a 'chemical defoliant' - being sprayed over Vietnam's jungles to kill the vegetation that hid enemy forces.

They sure deserve the 'effectiveness' award; Monsanto has led to more suffering and pain and birth defects and early deaths than any company in history. Nobody has killed more people than Monsanto^[5].

It breaks my heart to consider what the Vietnam Generation had to go through; apparently WWII really gave America confidence that it held the white knight's role in the world and ridding Europe of the Nazi presence was an honorable pursuit.

The Vietnam veteran was not even allowed to join the Veterans of Foreign Wars in the early years. That regard certainly didn't help the Vietnam vet find justice in the world of big business and politics.

Kathy Lee was a first Lieutenant in the US Army during the Vietnam War. She served in the Nurse Corps which had a very directed job of saving people' lives. "I wasn't really welcome in the VFW. It was a good old boy's club, and the WWII veterans did not really recognize the Vietnam veterans and they did not accept women."^[6].

From the: Wikipedia page on Monsanto The 1940s saw Monsanto become a leading manufacturer of plastics, including polystyrene, and synthetic fibers. Since then, it has remained one of the top 10 US chemical companies. Other major products have included the herbicides 2,4,5-T, DDT, and Agent Orange used primarily during the Vietnam War as a defoliant agent (later found to be contaminated during manufacture with highly carcinogenic dioxin), the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet), bovine somatotropin (bovine growth hormone (BST)), and PCBs. Also in this decade, Monsanto operated the Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, Ohio, for the Manhattan Project, the development of the first nuclear weapons and, after 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission[7].

Women, nurses; who have served in dangerous combat conditions since the beginning of time, were not allowed into the Veteran of Foreign Wars simply because they were women. Not what I'd call a generational accomplishment. I know from covering the war in Iraq and Afghanistan that US nurses treat everyone; they don't discriminate and locals, even suspected 'insurgents', are medically well cared for. Our writer Dr. Leveque, who fought in WWII and then treated Vietnam veterans for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), has written about how nurses are historically treated with indifference by the military and VA^[8].

I will say though that these WWII guys who weathered time came to embrace and love people like Edward Evans; in some cases too late but not every time.

And here is the caveat of Edward Evans' generation; the second the first troops began rotating home from the terrible war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Vietnam vets were there to welcome them home and they took the steps to ensure that these troops are well regarded and not trashed.

We apparently take a long time to learn, but it is the steadfastness of people like Ed Evans that created a welcome home platform for today's veteran, regardless of whether or not the war they fight in is popular or a huge national mistake.

The challenges Vietnam veterans were different in many ways. In addition to extreme drug abuse, one tragic example is suicide. According to the Vietnam veteran operated Website capveterans.com

"We lost almost 59,000 men and women during the 16 years of Viet Nam. As of 5 years after the war was officially over, we had 150,000 Viet Nam Vets that had committed suicide."^[9]

The thing is that while many committed suicide, far more did not and still had to check out far ahead of schedule.

Edward Evans as a young Marine during Vietnam War.

These war fighters had a fierce conflict on their hands in Vietnam. Veterans suffer and have not only suffered wounds from weapons like the AK-47, mortars, rockets or landmines, not even the nightmare and terrible memories; instead it is that chemical gift wrapped in the red, white and blue wrapper of America's business spirit, that killer Agent Orange that imperils our men and women. ^[10].

Agent Orange, a product of the company Monsanto that is a criminal group that should be forced to shut down all of its operation and liquidate its asset to the families of veteran and also to the Vietnamese who suffer horrible birth defects to this day^[11].

Monsanto killed Edward Evan. He did everything right; he was an ideal American youth who chose to serve his country in the fullest extent by joining the United States Marine Corps. Monsanto killed my friend Bill Cheer also. His death from cancer came just after he found what it took to go back to SE Asia, in the early 1990's. He was so thrilled, everything looked so good for him, but the weight loss was startling. The funny thing is that he looked an awful lot like Edward Evan and they both did their best to survive that war. I think they both at one time thought they had, but in the end they did not. They were killed by a war in SE Asia by a weapon created and built in the land of sour apple pie^[12].

Monsanto, headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri; has been a hazardous company for a long time, and today they are the group behind the mad scientist seeds, known as GMO- genetically modified seeds are Monsanto's baby. They are unnatural, they are wrong, and a scourge in this world. They are created by mutating nature.

Agent Orange Quilt Of Tears

If they aren't killing people with herbicides or atomic bombs, Monsanto is trying to steal your life at the dinner table. If and when Revolution takes off in America, it won't be a bunch of disgruntled racists with tea party signs, it will be real people and they will move toward Monsanto.

The latest salt rubbed in our wounds was not unexpected; it was a Monsanto official finding his way into a nice influential position with the Food and Drug Administration. It is in every respect, a result of moral bankruptcy^[13].

Another non-friend to the Vietnam Veteran can be the fellow Vietnam Vet who turns politician. In Virginia you have people like Senator Jim Webb who had the chance to help those suffering from Agent Orange poisoning, and instead drove a knife in their backs, even as the head of the VA was pushing to help^[14].

Those who turn their backs on their brothers and sisters deserve nothing less than the legacy they create. Those who help and do what they can can be remarkable; people like Sheree Evans. I admire and respect her so much, as I do her late husband. I wish I could have known him. There is a brotherhood aspect with Marine veterans that is far reaching. It also includes every soldier, sailor, airman and civilian who served or worked in Vietnam during the war.

I hope news reporters and editors reading this can appreciate that Agent Orange and Monsanto are subjects needing a lot of attention. The Vietnam Generation is retiring and while I have had many friends in media who served in Vietnam; people like Paul Hanson who used to work at KATU Channel-2 News in Portland, my old station, and still is going strong at Public Radio Station KQED in northern California, there are not enough and it is up to the new generations to keep the awareness factor in front of people. Hundred of thousands of American Vietnam vet children have been born with birth defects^[15].

Monsanto and Agent Orange are gifts from your government that keep on giving, and if they ever pay a cent in return, it will never be enough.

Semper fi Edward Evans.

Referenced sources:

^[1] Dioxin and Glioblastoma in the Vietnam Veteran Population - Eileen Whitacre Special to Salem-News.com

^[2] VA Links Brain Cancer to Agent Orange Exposure in Recent Court Decision - Salem-News.com

^[3] Agent Orange Quilt Of Tears

^[4] Who really Spat on Veterans During the Vietnam War? - Tim King Salem-News.com

^[5] Agent Orange: The Damage Lives On In Vietnam - Chuck Palazzo Salem-News.com

^[6] Vietnam Veterans and the VFW - jointheelite.org

^[7] Wikipedia page on Monsanto

^[8] Military Nurses: VA's Shabby Treatment of Forgotten Angels - Dr. Phil Leveque Salem-News.com

^[9] capveterans.com

^[10] A Loss of Innocence: My Story - By Lesli Moore Dahlke - Special to Salem-News.com

^[11] Victims of Victims - Chuck Palazzo Salem-News.com.

^[12] While We Were Sleeping...GM Food and the Brink of No Return - April Scott Salem-News.com

^[13] Monsanto Executive Appointed to High Level Position in the FDA - Marianne Skolek Salem-News.com.

^[14] Turncoat Senator Jim Webb's Attempt to Take Down Shinseki Over Agent Orange Advocacy - Chuck Palazzo Salem-News.com

^[15] Photograph of Danang Girl Affected by Agent Orange Wins UNICEF Photo of the Year Contest - Salem-News.com

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 76 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com