Huey14
03-25-2006, 22:17
This makes me angry.
War vet speaks out about Agent Orange
26 March 2006
By KRISTIAN SOUTH
Hero medic John "Doc" Mountain risked his life to save young Kiwi soldiers on the hellish battlefields of the Vietnam War.
But the retired New Zealand Army warrant officer fears he and the troops he treated have been betrayed by their own government.
Breaking his silence after 35 years, Mountain has told Sunday News how medical records he compiled during the war showing symptoms of Agent Orange poisoning were wiped from official Army records.
# His claims include: Scores of Kiwi troops he treated in Vietnam displayed a strange, agonising body rash that didn't match any of the heat or fungal infections commonly contracted in the South-East Asian country. The rash didn't respond to treatment.
# Infected troops were later diagnosed as having chloro-acne and chemical dermatitis - symptoms of exposure to dioxin, the noxious component of Agent Orange.
# That when he attempted to recheck his field medical records notes 10 years after the war ended, Doc witnessed notes on the mystery rashes being removed by a team of defence force clerks.
Mountain's bombshell claims will be included in a Government-ordered report into possible compensation for Agent Orange exposure, which will be presented to Prime Minister Helen Clark next month.
But in a further shocking twist, evidence given by Vietnam vets for the report will be embargoed for 30 years - meaning most of the war-time heroes will be dead before their stories can be told publicly.
Mountain - who spoke to Sunday News at his Brisbane home - provided us with a sworn affidavit to back up his tale of "treachery", which began when he was reunited with an infected Kiwi soldier. Ten years after the end of the war, the trooper still had the mystery toxic rash.
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"I asked him if the lesions were from the undiagnosed rash he had experienced in Vietnam and he indicated that they were and that another doctor had diagnosed it as chloro-acne," Mountain said.
Still employed as an Army medic, Mountain went to check on the soldier's medical file for the notes he'd written about the rash during the war. But the records had disappeared.
Astounded, he visited the Army's Wellington medical office to inquire about the missing information.
He said he was stunned to find a defence force clerical team in the process of updating Vietnam veterans' field medical notes - without transferring any reference to the mystery rashes.
"For some reason, information on the skin rashes never made the transition," Mountain said.
"I don't know if it was a major stuff up by the defence department, or if it was the deliberate purging of information regarding exposure to Agent Orange, but all that information has gone missing.
"That information would go a long way to proving we were exposed to Agent Orange."
Doc said he tried to raise the removal of his medical notes with superiors several times but "never got a satisfactory answer". He eventually left the service in despair.
He said he is speaking out now because he is riddled with cancer and has been told he only has three years to live.
"I want to blow the whistle on this while I still have the breath," Doc said.
He points out that at the time he witnessed the removal of files, a massive lawsuit was filed against the US to pay for the damages caused to Agent Orange victims.
Another 15 infected Vietnam vets spoken to by Sunday News say they have been told by the Army there is no record of their mystery rashes. But they all remember notes being taken during their war-time medical examinations of the infections.
Fellow Vietnam medic Heta Heta - who also kept notes on the troops' rashes in Vietnam - said he too was infected with the mysterious war-time skin disease.
"My legs still crawl as if there is something under the skin. Every night I wake up and feel it," said Heta, who now lives in Brisbane.
"It's just there, I wake up in the morning and go, 'S**t it's there'. I go to bed at night and go, 'S**t, it's still there'.
"My GP looks at it and tells me there's nothing he can do about it, so I don't even mention it any more."
Wanganui vet Garry Manning has been diagnosed with chemical dermatitis.
"I've had it since I returned from Vietnam," Garry said. "I don't keep chemicals in the house because it flares it up. If I scratch myself in my sleep I wake up and my bedding is covered in blood. It's awful."
Vietnam rifleman Bruce Isbister says his rash is so bad he can't swim in chlorinated pools or work with cleaning agents as they leave him covered in the deep red rash.
"It itches like crazy and oozes. It's absolutely maddening and debilitating."
Bruce, who is on a war pension, can't afford to be checked for dioxin poisoning. The tests would cost thousands of dollars."
Agent Orange defoliant was used by America and its allies in the war to clear foliage used as cover by enemy troops.
War vet speaks out about Agent Orange
26 March 2006
By KRISTIAN SOUTH
Hero medic John "Doc" Mountain risked his life to save young Kiwi soldiers on the hellish battlefields of the Vietnam War.
But the retired New Zealand Army warrant officer fears he and the troops he treated have been betrayed by their own government.
Breaking his silence after 35 years, Mountain has told Sunday News how medical records he compiled during the war showing symptoms of Agent Orange poisoning were wiped from official Army records.
# His claims include: Scores of Kiwi troops he treated in Vietnam displayed a strange, agonising body rash that didn't match any of the heat or fungal infections commonly contracted in the South-East Asian country. The rash didn't respond to treatment.
# Infected troops were later diagnosed as having chloro-acne and chemical dermatitis - symptoms of exposure to dioxin, the noxious component of Agent Orange.
# That when he attempted to recheck his field medical records notes 10 years after the war ended, Doc witnessed notes on the mystery rashes being removed by a team of defence force clerks.
Mountain's bombshell claims will be included in a Government-ordered report into possible compensation for Agent Orange exposure, which will be presented to Prime Minister Helen Clark next month.
But in a further shocking twist, evidence given by Vietnam vets for the report will be embargoed for 30 years - meaning most of the war-time heroes will be dead before their stories can be told publicly.
Mountain - who spoke to Sunday News at his Brisbane home - provided us with a sworn affidavit to back up his tale of "treachery", which began when he was reunited with an infected Kiwi soldier. Ten years after the end of the war, the trooper still had the mystery toxic rash.
Advertisement
Advertisement
"I asked him if the lesions were from the undiagnosed rash he had experienced in Vietnam and he indicated that they were and that another doctor had diagnosed it as chloro-acne," Mountain said.
Still employed as an Army medic, Mountain went to check on the soldier's medical file for the notes he'd written about the rash during the war. But the records had disappeared.
Astounded, he visited the Army's Wellington medical office to inquire about the missing information.
He said he was stunned to find a defence force clerical team in the process of updating Vietnam veterans' field medical notes - without transferring any reference to the mystery rashes.
"For some reason, information on the skin rashes never made the transition," Mountain said.
"I don't know if it was a major stuff up by the defence department, or if it was the deliberate purging of information regarding exposure to Agent Orange, but all that information has gone missing.
"That information would go a long way to proving we were exposed to Agent Orange."
Doc said he tried to raise the removal of his medical notes with superiors several times but "never got a satisfactory answer". He eventually left the service in despair.
He said he is speaking out now because he is riddled with cancer and has been told he only has three years to live.
"I want to blow the whistle on this while I still have the breath," Doc said.
He points out that at the time he witnessed the removal of files, a massive lawsuit was filed against the US to pay for the damages caused to Agent Orange victims.
Another 15 infected Vietnam vets spoken to by Sunday News say they have been told by the Army there is no record of their mystery rashes. But they all remember notes being taken during their war-time medical examinations of the infections.
Fellow Vietnam medic Heta Heta - who also kept notes on the troops' rashes in Vietnam - said he too was infected with the mysterious war-time skin disease.
"My legs still crawl as if there is something under the skin. Every night I wake up and feel it," said Heta, who now lives in Brisbane.
"It's just there, I wake up in the morning and go, 'S**t it's there'. I go to bed at night and go, 'S**t, it's still there'.
"My GP looks at it and tells me there's nothing he can do about it, so I don't even mention it any more."
Wanganui vet Garry Manning has been diagnosed with chemical dermatitis.
"I've had it since I returned from Vietnam," Garry said. "I don't keep chemicals in the house because it flares it up. If I scratch myself in my sleep I wake up and my bedding is covered in blood. It's awful."
Vietnam rifleman Bruce Isbister says his rash is so bad he can't swim in chlorinated pools or work with cleaning agents as they leave him covered in the deep red rash.
"It itches like crazy and oozes. It's absolutely maddening and debilitating."
Bruce, who is on a war pension, can't afford to be checked for dioxin poisoning. The tests would cost thousands of dollars."
Agent Orange defoliant was used by America and its allies in the war to clear foliage used as cover by enemy troops.