By K. Oanh Ha
This series first aired on KQED’s The California Report from Nov. 22-24, 2010.
Speaking Out After Decades of Silence
California is home to many Vietnamese Americans who fought for the U.S. during the Vietnam war. But while American-born vets can get medical care and disability compensation for their Agent Orange-related illnesses, America’s former allies get no veterans’ benefits.
The Scars of Agent Orange
In the decade from 1961 to 1971, the U.S. military sprayed a total of 12.5 million gallons of dioxin-laced chemicals over Vietnam. Vietnam says more than 3 million people suffer from disabilities and cancers because of Agent Orange. We explore the plight of America’s former allies.
A Haunted Landscape
Thirty-five years after the war in Vietnam ended, the chemical Agent Orange still pervades the soil of the Southeast Asian nation. In many places, the land remains scarred. We look at the efforts to clean-up the contamination that lingers in the land and people of Vietnam.
