By Ashley Studley
Feb 14, 2010
FRAMINGHAM
A Framingham veteran says many Massachusetts National Guard soldiers
- and others from New England - may have been exposed to dangerous
levels of Agent Orange defoliant if they trained at a military base
in New Brunswick.
Richard Pelletier, a service officer for the American Legion, says
the Canadian and American governments are responsible for spraying
toxic defoliants Agents Orange, White and Purple over Canadian Forces
Base Gagetown, New Brunswick, and possibly exposing guardsmen and
Reservists from Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and
Vermont to the toxins.
Agent Orange gained prominence after American and Vietnamese soldiers
and civilians developed illnesses attributed to large quantities of
the defoliant sprayed from the air over jungles in Vietnam.
Pelletier is trying to sound an alarm about what he sees as a similar
problem, even closer to home.
``People are dying and getting cancers, and some still don't know
about (the chemicals) until this day,'' Pelletier said.
Originally of Madawaska, Maine, a town that borders Canada, Pelletier
is a former Marine and member of the National Guard. He said he
caught a Canadian newscast one night in 2005 revealing Canada's use
of Agents Orange, White and Purple from 1956 to 1984 over the camp in Gagetown.
He said the newscast said information revealed the U.S. had also
sprayed 439 liters of Agent Orange from airplanes over about 80 acres
over a period of seven days sometime in 1966 and 1967.
The morning after the newscast, Pelletier notified the American
Legion and other veteran service agencies. Then he reached out to
U.S. senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both Maine
Republicans, and U.S. Reps. Michael Michaud and Tom Allen, two Maine Democrats.
``I was enraged they would send us over there and not tell us (about
the spray), and keep it a secret,'' Pelletier said. ``I felt like we
were betrayed, and we were.''
On March 2, 2006, Maine National Guard Adjutant Maj. Gen. John W.
Libby and Director of Maine's Veteran's Services Peter W. Ogden
issued an update on the use of Agent Orange and Purple in Gagetown.
``In June of 2005, the Canadian Department of National Defense (DND)
announced that for three days in June 1966 (14-16) and four days in
June 1967 (21-24), testing of various defoliants, including Agent
Orange and Agent Purple, took place over a limited portion of the
Canadian Force Base (CFB) Gagetown, New Brunswick,'' the report said.
The report said the Maine National Guard began training there in 1971
and invited veterans who were on the base between 1966 and 1967 to
register for an Agent Orange examination.
A couple weeks later, Pelletier was issued an award from Maine state
officials recognizing him for bringing the Gagetown issue to their attention.
He said claims from Maine veterans began pouring into the Legion
office, which were sent down to the Board of Veterans Appeals in
Washington, D.C.
Pelletier got married and moved to Framingham the following year, and
had faith the Maine government would follow up and compensate its
sick guardsmen.
Five years later and still without any new developments, Pelletier
has only grown agitated.
``I've been waiting on the congressional delegation to do their job,
but they didn't,'' he said.``They failed. It's time to get the word
out there.''
Since 2006, he and his supervisor Robert Owen, Department Service
Officer for the Legion in Maine, have been working to raise awareness
on the issue.
``What we're trying to do is get those people who did go to Gagetown
to file a claim if they have one of the presumptive disabilities,''
Owen said. ``The sad part is, a great many of them have passed on.
They may have widows out there, and if we can swing it, they can get
compensation.''
Although Maine officials only invited veterans who served or trained
in Gagetown in 1966-67 to register, Pelletier wants anyone who served
and might be suffering from the effects of Agent Orange to file a
claim with the American Legion.
Conditions related to Agent Orange include prostate cancer, Hodgkin's
disease, respiratory cancers and Parkinson's disease, among others.
A Canadian veteran of the Black Watch 2nd Battalion - a Royal
Highland regiment that originated in Scotland - is suing the
government for lung cancer he says he got from serving in Gagetown.
The veteran, Gary Goode, said he was diagnosed with lung cancer in
2005, and had his lung removed a month later.
He said he is one of approximately 3,000 members of a class action
suit seeking compensation from the Canadian government for exposure
to the defoliant.
Although he was given $20,000 through an ex gratia - a non-obligatory
- payment from his government, he said Veterans Affairs Canada has
not given him a pension.
``By giving me that ($20,000, the government is) saying that `yes,
there is a problem, and yes, these chemicals caused the disease and
sickness','' he said.
He said a Department of Defence document titled ``Overview of
Herbicide Spray Programme 1956-1984'' acquired in 2005 through the
Freedom to Information Act shows over one billion grams of the three
chemical agents were sprayed over the Gagetown base.
``I know and knew many vets who are sick, dying or dead because of
Gagetown,'' Goode said.
As a member of the Maine National Guard, Pelletier trained in
Gagetown for two weeks in 1981, but says he has not developed any
chemical-related illnesses.
He asks any widow or veteran who served in Gagetown and has symptoms
of conditions related to Agent Orange to contact the American Legion
Boston Headquarters at 617-727-2966 and file a claim.
Contacted at the Massachusetts National Guard in Milford, Lt. Col.
John McKenna said he didn't know when the state started sending
troops to Gagetown, but said the last troops to go went in 1988.
``Elements of the 26th Yankee Division used to train in Gagetown, but
the last time we have a record of anyone from Massachusetts training
there is in 1988,'' McKenna said.
While Pelletier tries to find out which units trained in Gagetown and
when, he is calling on elected officials throughout New England to investigate.
Newly elected U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass, said he's willing to
review the matter.
Brown, a longtime member of the Mass. National Guard, said he,
personally had not trained at the New Brunswick site.
``I know that we trained in Gagetown, but I don't have any knowledge
of this particular claim,'' Brown said. ``I look forward to getting
(the information) and seeing what I can do to answer his questions.''
Pelletier said if any sick veteran or widow needs help filing the
claim, he can be contacted at mrpelletier@rcn.com.
``I expect to win, for the truth to come out, and that people will
get what they deserve,'' he said. ``And we will punish whoever has
been keeping this silent all these years.''
--
Ashley Studley can be reached at 508-634-7556 or astudley@cnc.com.
.
1 comments:
The years 1966-1967 are a red herring put forward by my government to distract from the other 26 years of spraying carried out jointly by the USA and Canada. For instance, in 1970, over 8,000 acres of CFB Gagetown were sprayed with 98,000 U.S. gallons of Agent White. In 1971 over 9,600 acres of the base were contaminated with 115,000 U.S. gallons of Agent White. This was during the Vietnam War. This spraying was done secretly while people were underneath.
Agent White is rarely talked about but it is at least as poisonous as Agent Orange. Considering that 98% of what was sprayed on CFB Gagetown was this toxic substance containing hexachlorobenzene (HCB), we should stop following the Canadian government's red herrings about what was sprayed and when. The fact is the base was swamped with chemical weapons designed to kill 150 foot tall trees. All forms of life share similar building blocks and it's no surprise at all that humans would be affected.
As if all this weren't bad enough, remember that what was sprayed 1970-1971 was on TOP of hundreds of thousands of gallons and pounds of other chemicals all mixing together into a toxic soup that is still there, still poisoning people.
I'm Canadian and I'm asking you Yanks, why aren't you pounding on the doors of your Congressmen and Senators about this military atrocity like we are?
Kelly_franklin@telus.net
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