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WASHINGTON, Oct. 13, 2009 – A new Department of Veterans Affairs ruling will soon relieve Vietnam veterans suffering from three specific illnesses from the burden of proving their ailments are linked to Agent Orange exposure to receive VA health care and disability payments. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki's decision, announced today, establishes a service connection for Vietnam vets stricken with hairy-cell leukemia and other B-cell leukemias, Parkinson's disease and ischemic heart disease, VA chief of staff John Gingrich told American Forces Press Service. Shinseki made the decision based on a recent report by the National Academy of Science's Institute...

HANOI (AFP) — US wartime use of the defoliant Agent Orange in Vietnam remains an issue between the two countries despite remarkable progress in relations, Senator John McCain said Tuesday. "I think it remains an issue both in Vietnam and the United States," McCain told reporters. . . . . . McCain said the United States has spent about 46 million dollars in Vietnam compensating victims and attempting to find areas that are contaminated by dioxin. "But I believe that it remains an irritant, and perhaps more than that, for some of the people of Vietnam. But I think we...

Environmental groups are blasting a U.S. Border Patrol project to kill invasive plant life along the Mexican border with what herbicide activists are calling the next Agent Orange — the Vietnam War-era deforesting chemical later found to cause cancer. But scientists say the chemical, a relatively common herbicide named Imazapyr, poses little threat to humans or native wildlife. The Border Patrol plans to spray the herbicide to kill Carrizo cane, which grows in dense thickets along vast stretches of the Rio Grande, which separates the United States and Mexico. Border Patrol supervisor Roque Sarinana calls the plant "a safety hazard...

The Supreme Court has turned down American and Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange who wanted to pursue lawsuits against companies that made the toxic chemical defoliant used in the Vietnam War. The justices offer no comment on their action Monday, rejecting appeals in three separate cases, in favor of Dow Chemical, Monsanto and other companies that made Agent Orange and other herbicides used by the military in Vietnam. Agent Orange has been linked to cancer, diabetes and birth defects among Vietnamese soldiers and civilians and American veterans. The American plaintiffs blame their cancer on exposure to Agent Orange during the...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The Supreme Court has turned down American and Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange who wanted to pursue lawsuits against companies that made the toxic chemical defoliant used in the Vietnam War. The justices offer no comment on their action Monday, rejecting appeals in three separate cases, in favor of Dow Chemical, Monsanto and other companies that made Agent Orange and other herbicides used by the military in Vietnam.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — UC Davis Cancer Center physicians today released results of research showing that Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange have greatly increased risks of prostate cancer and even greater risks of getting the most aggressive form of the disease as compared to those who were not exposed. The findings, which appear online now and will be published in the September 15 issue of the journal Cancer, are the first to link the herbicide with this form of cancer. The research is also the first to utilize a large population of men in their 60s and the prostate-specific...

Department of Veterans Affairs Prepares to Strip John McCain of Vietnam Veteran Title News Release Date: 26 June, 2008 From: website, www.BlueWaterNavy.org  Note: This article refers to proposed changes to the rules defining 'Service in Vietnam' set forth by the Department of Veterans Affairs in response to the 'Haas vs. Peake' decision in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. By the implementation of changes as set forth in the Federal Register, April 16, 2008, regarding "Definition of Service in the Republic of Vietnam," for the purpose of clarifying eligibility for presumption of exposure to herbicides status, the DVA very clearly...

UPDATE: SIX GOOD REASONS NOT TO CONFIRM DR. JAMESPEAKE AS VA SECRETARY -- Twice-burned by incompetenceand cronyism, why should veterans trust the thirdnominee from this administration? Dr. James Peake— By Larry ScottOn November 1 of this year, I wrote about five reasons Dr. James Peake should not be confirmed as Secretary of Veterans' Affairs.  That article here...http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfNOV07/nf110107-1.htmDr. Peake's nomination will get a hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs this Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 9:30AM Eastern (Dirksen, Room G-50).So, let's add a sixth good reason Dr. Peake should NOT be confirmed as VA Secretary.6.  This administration has a...

p>Thursday, November 15, 2007NVLSP Testimony Before the Senate VA Committee On November 7th, 2007, while most of our Blue Water Navy world was focused on the Haas vs. the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the oral arguments of the DVA's appeal, other relevant action was occuring nearby at the Capitol. The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee had called a hearing at the same time as the oral arguments were to be heard in the Haas case. The hearing was to take testimony from representatives of relevant organizations. One was the very group that was arguing the Haas case at the United...

Veteran's wife: 'I think (VA is) waiting for him to die' Marjorie Bowzer has a drawer full of documents relating to her husband’s illness. At 88 and suffering dementia, he now lives at the state veterans’ nursing home on Ramsey Street. (staff photo by David Smith) By Laura Arenschield, Staff writer Once, he was Maj. Charles Bowzer, leader of soldiers in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.After retiring from the Army in 1967, he taught Boy Scouts how to camp. He judged cribbage games and baked brownies for his grandchildren. Everyone called him Uncle Charlie.No one thought to worry...

VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org -- 09-13-2007 #3UPDATE: SEN. AKAKA EXPLAINS (SORT OF) SUBMITTING ANTI-VETERAN LEGISLATION -- Akaka offers grade-school civics lesson as excuse for submitting President's bill that would prevent "Blue Water Navy" VA claims. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Senate Vets' Chair On September 6, 2007, Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, submitted "by request" legislation that would prevent "Blue Water Navy" veterans from receiving benefits for Agent Orange exposure.  This is an attempt to overturn the Haas decision.  The bill, S.2026, would also overturn the Nehmer decision.  (see...

COMMENTARY: WHEN YOU CAN'T WIN IN THE COURTS, BUY A SENATOR -- Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Senate Vets' Chair, submits bill for White House that would overturn two key Court rulings favoring veterans' benefits. Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Senate Vets' Chair Commentary below: Please note that the original version of this commentary did not mention that Sen. Akaka submitted this bill "by request" from the White House.  That omission has been corrected.-------------------------Who bought Sen. Daniel Akaka?  The White House.Sen. Akaka (D-HI) is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.Last Thursday (September 6, 2007), Akaka introduced S. 2026 "by request"...that is,...

'They're stalling me until I die' John Atkins, who has late-stage leukemia, fights his last battle -- paperwork Wednesday, September 05, 2007 MARK LARABEE The Oregonian Staff As he shifts his weight over his cluttered desk and hoists himself on his feet, John D. Atkins lets out a wail.The pain in his back is so great that tears well up in his eyes and his hands shake. Breathing hard, he turns and stumbles, reaching for a cane that lies across his double bed.Eventually, from the dresser he grabs a miniature bottle of Cutty Sark scotch from among a dozen pill...

CHALLENGING THE DVA AND THE IOM Part II - THE REPORT     This Part II - The Report lays out more details regarding questionable connections between the Institute of Medicine (IOM) release of the Veterans and Ageng Orange: Update 2006 and the Haas vs. Nicholson Court Case now in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The premise is there is no coincidence that the legal arguments of the DVA in Haas vs. Nicholson (which are extremely weak) and the release of the Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2006 (which excludes important data available...

CHALLENGING THE DVA AND THE IOM   This Summary is provided in advance of a more detailed report challenging the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Institute of Medicine. The premise is there is no coincidence that the legal arguments of the DVA in Haas vs. Nicholson (which are extremely weak) and the release of the Veterans and Agent Orange: Update 2006 (which excludes important data available to them) mutually support one another entirely. But that is the total means of their support. They are otherwise resting on air. The DVA legal argument is semantic manipulation that is meaningless...

A FAREWELL LETTER TO JIM NICHOLSON     Dear Jim, Well, you've had your day in the sun. You've played with the Big Boys, which is something you've wanted to do for a long time, isn't it! Rest assured that you will not be remembered by anyone but an angry crowd of veterans who will mutter your name in utter disdain. You sold them out for the price of having your easily forgotten, temporarily stenciled name on an office door. A few of us actually realize that you didn't create the bulk of the problems that plague the Department...

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 31 -- Stonewalling by the Veterans Administration is putting U.S. cancer surveillance and research in jeopardy, according to many of the researchers involved in those fields. After decades of sharing data freely and allowing researchers to get in touch with its patients, the agency has been blocking such activity for the past several years, according to Dennis Deapen, Dr.PH., of the Los Angeles Cancer Surveillance Program and the University of Southern California. The result, Dr. Deapen said, is that California state data on cancer incidence rates are being skewed. And that, he said, is likely to have...

Friday, August 10, 2007 Navy Vets Die To Protect Corporate Profits! We have said it before on several occasions, and now it is even more on target than ever: "It is a stain on this nation's honor that the Department of Veterans Affairs has become a deadlier and more difficult adversary to the American veteran than any they have ever faced on a battlefield." On more than one occasion we have accused the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs [DVA] with protecting the chemical companies that manufactured Agent Orange by prohibiting Blue Water Navy Veterans from receiving presumptive benefits...

APPEALS COURT ORDERS PAYMENTS TO CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA VETS IN AGENT ORANGE CASES -- Court says: "The performance of the UnitedStates Department of Veterans Affairs has contributed substantially to our sense of national shame."<snip>"Three different Congresses in three different decades have enacted legislation signed by three different presidents, designed to ensure the payment of such benefits to veterans afflicted with Agent Orange-related ailments," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the court's opinion. "We would hope that this litigation will now end, that our government will now respect the legal obligations it undertook in the consent decree some 16 years ago, that...

Vietnam War Fighters Suspect Illnesses May Be Linked to Agent OrangeLloyd Patrick Elnicki never asked what the Circle of Life Hospice nurse wrote in her evaluations every day. Secretly, he knew. "I'm dying, aren't I?" he asked his wife, Sharon. "Well, Pat, you're not getting any better," she said. Three years before, the Vietnam veteran was a robust man with pale skin, dark red hair and a goatee. He had a clover tattooed on his back -- for luck...<snip>Both Pat and Sharon Elnicki said they believe Pat's cancers may be linked to Agent Orange, an herbicide the U.S. armed forces...

ASSOCIATED PRESS ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The government is taking steps to preserve data and biological specimens from a quarter-century investigation into the effects of Agent Orange on Vietnam veterans, having found an elevated risk for diabetes but no clear links to cancer from the soon-to-end study. The independent Institute of Medicine concluded earlier this year that the material from the Air Force Health Study is valuable and should be preserved and made available to researchers and scientists. That sentiment was seconded Thursday by members of a government panel that has advised the Air Force throughout the study. "There is value...

January 27, 2006 ã…¡ â–¶ Vietnam War veterans celebrating the Seoul High Court's decision yesterday outside the courthouse yesterday. [YONHAP] In the first Korean court ruling on compensation for illnesses triggered by the use of Agent Orange, a defoliant, during the Vietnam War, the Seoul High Court said yesterday that the U.S. chemical companies Dow Chemical and Monsanto must pay 6,795 Korean veterans a total of 63 billion won ($63 million)."There is a high possibility that the plaintiffs, who were in Vietnam between 1965 and 1973, were exposed to the toxic chemical," the court said. "We acknowledged the need for...

A federal judge Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by some 4 million Vietnamese claiming that U.S. chemical companies committed war crimes by making Agent Orange for use during the Vietnam War. U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein disagreed that allegedly toxic defoliant and similar U.S. herbicides should be considered poisons banned under international rules of war, even though they may have had comparable effects on people and land. The Brooklyn judge also found that the plaintiffs could not prove that Agent Orange had caused their illnesses, largely because of a lack of large-scale research. Plaintiffs' lawyers said an appeal was planned....

In a decision that could close a controversial Vietnam-era chapter of American history, a federal judge in Brooklyn today dismissed a damage suit filed on behalf of millions of Vietnamese that claimed American chemical companies committed war crimes by supplying the military with the defoliant Agent Orange. The civil suit, filed last year, had sought what could have been billions of dollars in damages and the environmental cleanup of Vietnam. The suit drew international attention for its claims about Agent Orange, which was widely used by the American military to clear the jungle until 1971. The suit claimed that the...

Judge Dismisses Agent Orange Lawsuit By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: March 10, 2005 Filed at 11:13 a.m. ET NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal judge Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by some 4 million Vietnamese claiming that U.S. chemical companies committed war crimes by making Agent Orange for use during the Vietnam War. U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein disagreed that allegedly toxic defoliant and similar U.S. herbicides should be considered poisons banned under international rules of war, even though they may have had comparable effects on people and land. The Brooklyn judge also found that the plaintiffs could not prove...

NEW YORK — No decision was issued as the first hearing of the lawsuit filed by the Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange against 37 US chemical firms ended at the Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York, yesterday. The US Federal District Judge Jack B Weistein said that the court needed more time to study legal evidence presented by the two sides at the hearing, which lasted for eight hours instead of seven as scheduled. The hearing was aimed to determine whether to start the trial or not. Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange filed their suit late January last year, accusing...

HO CHI MINH CITY (Reuters) - It is a classroom full of sunlight in Vietnam's southern city formerly known as Saigon, with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck painted on the wall overlooking several computers. But one pupil writes with a pencil held between his toes, another cannot close her smiling mouth properly and the oldest of them, Tran Thi Hoan, wheels herself in and out as her legs have no calves. They are residents of Ho Chi Minh City's Peace Village 2, a state project set up in 1990 from a ward of Tu Du Maternity Hospital to help...

LONDON - Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned with TCDD, the most harmful known dioxin and one contained in Agent Orange, a scientist who analyzed his blood said Friday. The tests showed the TCDD was pure and must have been concocted in a laboratory, lead investigator Abraham Brouwer told The Associated Press. The tests, confirmed by three labs in the Netherlands and Germany, also confirmed that Yushchenko's blood contained 100,000 units of the poison, the second-highest concentration on record. Doctors announced last weekend that the 50-year-old Yushchenko was poisoned with a dioxin chemical that left him disfigured, but Brouwer...

A note from Neil Mishalov, webmaster of this site: I had the pleasure of meeting Jack P. Smith. We first met on 19 April 2003, when we hiked together on Mount Tamalpais, California. I found Jack to be a gentleman and I enjoyed his company. We subsequently met three additional times, and each time we hiked on the flanks of Mount Tamalpais. In September, 2003, I called Jack and asked him if he wanted to join me on another hike. He said “Yes, but since I was recently diagnosed with cancer of the liver and the pancreas, I will not...

...Beginning today, Amazon plans to feature one original short film each week in a prominent spot on its home page for the next five weeks -- all commissioned by Amazon and available for free downloading by the site's visitors. The four-to-seven minute movies will star a variety of Hollywood actors in fictional stories fashioned loosely around a theme Amazon describes as "karmic balance;" characters, in essence, learn valuable life lessons.... Instead of a traditional advertising hard sell, the movies mark the escalation of an effort by Amazon to provide unique online content free of charge to its customers, some of...

September 30, 2004 -- MIAMI — As Democrat John Kerry tries to distract attention from his new orangey tan, he's angling to play the height card — "I'm taller" — as voters get their first chance to size up the presidential candidates on the same stage at tonight's debate. But someone should tell Kerry to watch his posture and stand tall. He tends to slouch awkwardly as if he's uncomfortable rather than proud of his height — making him look gangly while Bush has a confident military-style bearing. Personal image really matters at debates in a subliminal way — especially,...

The question on everyone's mind this week is whether the Wisconsin sun or an ineffective sunless tanning product has turned presidential candidate John Kerry's face from flesh color to a rich pumpkin hue. Either way, it's crucial that Kerry and President George W. Bush look their best this last month on the campaign trail, as voters have been swayed in the past based on physical appearances (think Nixon vs. Kennedy). In an effort to keep the candidates bronzed rather than orange, Chase Products Co. -- inventor of the first aerosol hair spray -- today is sending Kerry and President Bush...

Just heard a theory about Kerry's "tan" that has the ring of truth to it. Laura Ingraham has suggested that Kerry had a chemical peel on his face -- possibly suggested by TerEZa who it is assumed also suggested his botox. Apparentely, you need to stay out of the sun after a chemical peel, otherwise it will turn the hue currently seen on Kerry's pan. This theory seems to make sense to me, and it also explains why Kerry's staff is saying he got the color by "playing in the sun all day." There's just enough truth in that statment...

All of us pajama pundits are eagerly anticipating the first Presidential Debate of the current electoral season. Will beads of sweat glisten on John Kerry's Botoxicated orange brow? Alas, I have misplaced my crystal ball and my Ouija board is on the fritz so I don't know what will perspire, but I am happy to divulge the expectations of a perceptive subscriber to this website's newsletter: I am waiting for the Cambodian Candidate to put on the Magic Hat given him by the Invisible CIA Guy & thus attired show up & win the debates.Although we have been privileged to...

John Kerry's campaign was seeing red - or was it orange? - over a swipe yesterday by the Republicans over his new suntan. Vice President Dick Cheney, at a town hall-style campaign event in Minnesota, told the audience that student proctors could be seen wearing orange shirts. Lynne Cheney asked her husband what the shirts ``remind you of?'' The veep paused, prompting his wife to say, ``I'll say it: How about John Kerry's suntan?'' The crowd laughed, apparently having seen reports about Kerry's tan. The vice president noted he might have to ``disassociate'' himself from the remark but added it...

DULUTH, Minn. - Something about Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites)'s darker appearance has caught Lynne Cheney's eye.

"What do those orange shirts remind you of?" Lynne Cheney asks Vice President Cheney in Duluth, MN. "How about John Kerry's sun tan?"

September 30, 2004 -- JOHN Kerry is one bronzed candidate - or is that tan-di-date? The Democratic nominee and windsurfing enthusiast says he picked up his brand-new glow at a football game last week in Massachusetts - just in time for tonight's first presidential debate. But can a rain-drenched New Yorker get a Kerry glow in time for the debate? To find out, I tried the friendly folks at Hollywood Tans on 25th Street and Sixth Avenue. "I want to look like John Kerry," I announced. The staff at the front desk laughed. "I saw that photo," said staffer Iris...

Oompa Loompa. Traffic Cone. Orange Alert. Is this what the Kerry Campaign wants the voters talking about just before a major debate? There is no way around it anymore. The democrats are just plain stupid. Why on earth would Kerry go out 3 days before a debate and get a spray on Tan? I can imagine his handlers telling him "Ya know Senator, John Kennedy had a great tan in '60. Here, spray this on. Its JFK in a can!" Kerry's fake tan will last as long as his positions on Iraq, about one week.

'If the tan is something you notice, you've gone too far.' You should never look at someone and say, 'Wow, that man is tan,' says Jessica 'Kayla' Conrad, a former stripper and author of the self help book- 'Dance Naked: The Guide to Unleashing Your Inner Hottie.' And in Mr. Kerry's case, he's going for a specific look. 'It's all about the sex appeal,' she said. 'It lends him a Kennedy-esque, time spent boating quality.'Indeed, with his suddenly tanned skin, Mr. Kerry appears to be trying to tap into the image making power of television-as John F. Kennedy did against...

The new version of Sen. John Kerry's Cambodia experience is also not true. Sen. Kerry patrolled from An Thoi on the 94 boat and also from Cat Lo on the 44 boat. There was no way to enter Cambodia from the An Thoi patrol area. That patrol area started at the coastal fishing village of Ha Tien and ran parallel to the Cambodian border, but there was no way into Cambodia. Any good map will show this to be true. From the Cat Lo patrol area around Sa Dec, it would have been possible for a boat to enter Cambodia,...

http://www.warroom.com/2004highlights/kerryagentorange.htm Has Kerry Helped Vietnam Sue Over Agent Orange? Thursday, February 05, 2004 By Steven Milloy Fox News When Howard Dean challenged Sen. John Kerry's effectiveness as a senator last week, Sen. Kerry defended himself in part by noting that he helped pass Agent Orange benefits for Vietnam veterans. That's true, but it was a good deed done for the wrong reason -- one that has opened the door for Vietnam to bilk billions of dollars from U.S taxpayers. A lawsuit was filed on Jan. 30 by the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange -- a front group formed...

After the homecomings are over and the yellow ribbons packed away, many who once served in America's armed forces may end up sleeping on sidewalks. This is the often-unacknowledged postscript to military service. According to the federal government, veterans make up 9% of the U.S. population but 23% of the homeless population. Among homeless men, veterans make up 33%. Their ranks included veterans like Peter Starks and Calvin Bennett, who spent nearly 30 years on the streets of Los Angeles, homeless and addicted. Or Vannessa Turner of Boston, who returned injured from Iraq (news - web sites) last summer, unable...

Press Release Source: Newsweek NEWSWEEK: John Kerry In First Public Comments About Experience With Agent Orange In Vietnam: 'We Know They Used Defoliants, At Least I Know They Used Defoliants, Because It Was All Around Us.' Sunday February 29, 10:17 am ET Believes His Prostate Cancer Was Hereditary; Will Have Doctor Release Summary of Medical Records # NEW YORK, Feb. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- In his first public comments about his experience with Agent Orange during his tour in Vietnam, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry tells Newsweek, "We know they used defoliants, at least I knew they used defoliants, because it...

Vietnamese fight back on Agent OrangeBy Tran Dinh Thanh Lam HO CHI MINH CITY - During the Vietnam War, US forces sprayed some 76 million liters of Agent Orange and other defoliants in a campaign known as Operation Ranch Hand. Its goal was to deprive Viet Cong (revolutionary) troops of vegetation they used for cover and food, but more than 30 years later its effects are still lingering, and now they're driving legal action by a number of Vietnamese. "I'm glad that finally some concrete action has been taken against American chemical firms, asking them to be responsible for the...

Vietnamese file first Agent Orange suit Three charge they became ill from toxic chemical Thomas White / Reuters A Vietnamese girl with no arms reads using her feet to hold a book at Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday along with other children with similar birth defects. Dr. Ng Thi Phuong Tan, the hospital's chief of staff, suspects many of the children's mothers were exposed to Agent Orange while pregnant. Updated: 1:15 p.m. ET Feb. 04, 2004 HANOI - Three Vietnamese who say they or their families became ill from Agent Orange defoliant used by...

<p>When Howard Dean challenged Sen. John Kerry’s effectiveness as a senator last week, Sen. Kerry defended himself in part by noting that he helped pass Agent Orange (search) benefits for Vietnam veterans.</p> <p>That’s true, but it was a good deed done for the wrong reason ¯ one that has opened the door for Vietnam to bilk billions of dollars from U.S taxpayers.</p>

<p>When Howard Dean challenged Sen. John Kerry’s effectiveness as a senator last week, Sen. Kerry defended himself in part by noting that he helped pass Agent Orange benefits for Vietnam veterans.</p> <p>That’s true, but it was a good deed done for the wrong reason -- one that has opened the door for Vietnam to bilk billions of dollars from U.S taxpayers.</p>

Vietnam War-era defoliant Agent Orange continues to contaminate livestock and fish eaten by Vietnamese decades after it was used, a study released on Monday showed. A 2002 study in Bien Hoa city, about 20 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, showed residents and food had high levels of dioxin, the August issue of The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine said. The report said about 95 percent of blood samples taken from 43 people in Bien Hoa "were found to have elevated TCDD levels," referring to the most toxic of the dioxins. "Although the spraying ended over...

<p>Robert Burgett remembers hauling big steel drums of chemicals from naval facilities to the supply yards on Andersen Air Force Base when he was assigned on island for temporary duty in the late 1960s.</p> <p>"We would move these barrels and stuff would spill and go all over us," he said. "We'd just wash off and keep going."</p>