the veteran’s voice newsletter · as far as membership is going, its been a little slow. we have...

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The Veteran’s VoiceNewsletterApril 2019

Edition

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Officers

Joseph ArmstrongPresident

Richard DoyleVice-President

Conrad Letellier

Secretary

Richard LitwinTreasure

QuartermasterJim Davis

ChaplainJim Currier

AVVA ChapterRepresentative

Jim Davis

HistorianCandice Lurvey

Newsletter StaffJoe Armstrong

Editor

MembershipChairman

Conrad Letellier

P.O. Box 844 Sanford, ME 04073 Email: [email protected] http://www.vva1044maine.org VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2 FEBRUARY 2018

This Generation's Agent Orange: Soldiers Exposedto Burn Pits Face Health Risks

Tens of thousands of veterans and servicemembers stationed at military bases inIraq and Afghanistan say exposure totrash fires or “burn pits” has left themwith breathing problems and other chron-ic illnesses, including cancer. They arefighting for health benefits, but say theU.S. Department of Veterans Affairs isturning its back on them.

Veterans say everything went into theburn pits — plastic water bottles, spentmunitions, tires, human and medicalwaste. They say the heaping piles of trashwere often then doused with jet fuel and liton fire. The pits burned 24 hours a day inor next to their military bases.

June Heston, of Richmond, Vermont, losther husband Mike Heston last year.

"How can that even happen? I was mad.So mad," she said.

Brig. Gen. Mike Heston was in the Ver-mont National Guard and volunteered forthree tours of duty in Afghanistan duringOperation Enduring Freedom.

"He was a soldier’s soldier," June Hestonsaid. "It meant everything."

But in 2016, nearly four years after hislast tour, Mike Heston started havingback pain. He went to a slew of doctorswho performed countless tests. He lost 75

pounds. For almost a year, no one couldfigure out what was going on.

"I said, 'I feel like he's dying and I'm theonly one who sees it,'" Heston recalled,choking back tears.

Mike Heston was dying. He had stage 4pancreatic cancer. But it would take newdoctors in Boston and an article the veter-an stumbled upon to connect the possibledots. It was about a young mother in theMinnesota National Guard, Amie Muller,whose family blamed her pancreatic can-cer, and eventual death, on the burn pitsat her military base in Iraq. The samekind of burn pits in Mike Heston com-plained to his wife about at his base.

"The military failed him. The doctorsfailed him," June Heston said. "I was an-gry."

The military started using burn pits inIraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s.Veterans tell NBC10 Boston Investigatorsthey were the fastest and cheapest way toget rid of trash. Veterans say the garbagewas often doused with jet fuel and set onfire. They burned day and night.

Dr. Tom Abrams, an oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, saidhe’d never heard of burn pits before meet-ing the Hestons.

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"It was shocking to learn about them," Abramssaid. "I asked, 'why is this happening? How couldthis be happening? This is clearly a threat tohealth.'"It was Abrams' team that found Heston's cancerand while he can't prove it definitively, he told theVA the exposure "....more likely than not..." madeHeston sick.

"Mike and the other patients are the canaries in thecoal mine," he said. "And I think we're going to seemore and more of these patients with cancers of allstripes."

Abrams' letter helped Heston gain disability medi-cal benefits through the VA. Veterans are only eligi-ble for health insurance for five years after serviceunless their illness is determined to be service relat-ed.

The VA has approved just 20 percent of the nearly12,000 medical claims related to burn pits over thelast decade. The agency admits there are toxins inthe smoke, but insists most health effects are tempo-rary.

"In some people it may be making them sick," saidDr. Drew Helmer, who directs the VA's War Relat-ed Illness and Injury Study Center in New Jersey."Who it is making sick, how many people it is mak-ing sick and what is the sickness—those are stillquestions we don’t have answers for."

The VA says it is continuing to study the issue andin 2014, Congress mandated they create a burn pitregistry to collect data on exposed veterans to betterevaluate the issue and potential risk. Nearly 170,000veterans and servicemen have signed up. Forty-twohundred of them are from New England.

June Heston said her husband did sign up for theregistry once he had learned of it.

"He said, 'You don't start a registry unless youknow there's a problem,'" she recalled.

Veterans and families call the registry a start, butwant more education for doctors, especially civilianpractitioners, and guaranteed medical care for vet-erans exposed. Those health benefits could cost theVA billions.

Heston lost her warrior in late 2018. The husbandand father of two was 58 years old.

Heston says her husband told her to keep fightingfor other veterans.

Families often compare burn pit exposure to AgentOrange, the defoliant used in Vietnam, which waseventually linked to cause cancer and other diseasesin exposed veterans. By the time the VA recognizedthe illnesses as service related, many veterans hadalready died without VA health benefits.

"Most of these men and women will die before anyresponsibility is taken and the help that they need isgiven," June Heston said. "That's the reality."

The Department of Defense turned down theNBC10 Boston Investigators request for an inter-view. They said they are now largely using incinera-tors, a more expensive method of getting rid oftrash, but the military admits burn pits are still be-ing used near about a dozen bases in the MiddleEast.

Legislators have introduced a bill called the BurnPits Accountability Act that would require the mili-tary to track service members and veterans exposedto burn pits, require health evaluations and sharedata about burn pits with the public. It was referredto the House Subcommittee on Health.

If you or a loved one were exposed to burn pits inIraq, Afghanistan, or Djibouti and you'd like toshare your story with Ally Donnelly, she may bereached at [email protected].

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A LESSON TO REMEMBER

Back in September, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a socialstudies school teacher at Robinson High School, did something not tobe forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of theschool superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, sheremoved all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that therewere no desks.

'Ms.. Cothren, where're our desks?'

She replied, 'You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn theright to sit at a desk.'

They thought, Well, maybe it's our grades.'

'No,' she said.

'Maybe it's our behavior.'

She told them, 'No, it's not even your behavior.'

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third peri-od. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering inMs.Cothren's classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had tak-en all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students foundseats on the floor of the desk less classroom, Martha Cothren said,Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/shehas done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily foundin this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.'

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroomand opened it.

Twenty-seven (27) War Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that

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classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing theschool desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand along-side the wall... By the time the last soldier had set the final desk inplace those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time intheir lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned..

Martha said, 'You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These he-roes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up toyou to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good stu-dents, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could havethe freedom to get an education. Don't ever forget it.'

By the way, this is a true story.

Please consider passing this along so others won't forget that the free-doms we have in this great country were earned by War Veterans.

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BUY - SELL - TRADE

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Chapter President’sComments

Hello EveryoneI was sitting here at my computer wondering what I would write about this month when a songcame on the radio that I think sums up what we are all about (Brotherhood/Sisterhood). Was itby chance that this particular song came on the radio at this particular time? I don’t know butwhat I do know is that I could not sum up what we are about any better than this song.I would like to share the lyrics of the song with you. The song is entitled “LEAN ON ME”Remember we need to be there for each other.

RespectfullyJoseph ArmstrongPresident

Sometimes in our livesWe all have pain, we all have sorrowBut if we are wiseWe know that there's always tomorrowLean on me when you're not strongAnd I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry onFor it won't be long'Til I'm gonna need somebody to lean onPlease, swallow your prideIf I have things you need to borrowFor no one can fill those of your needsThat you won't let showYou just call on me, brother, when you need a handWe all need somebody to lean onI just might have a problem that you'll understandWe all need somebody to lean onLean on me when you're not strongAnd I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry onFor it won't be long'Til I'm gonna need somebody to lean onYou just call on me, brother, when you need a handWe all need somebody to lean onI just might have a problem that you'll understandWe all need somebody to lean onIf there is a loadYou have to bear that you can't carry

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I'm right up the road, I'll share your loadIf you just call meCall me (If you need a friend)Call me (Call me uh-huh)

RespectfullyJoseph ArmstrongPresident

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MEMBERSHIP DEPARTMENTConrad Letellier

Membership Chairman

Well for the month of March. Hope everyone is enjoying there winter. Spring is just around the corner.

As far as membership is going, its been a little slow. We have picked up a couple of new members. JohnDodd being one of our newest members.

I am working on another membership drive in the future, not sure when it will be. Keep in mind that itis not hard to bring in a new member. All that is required is for you to talks to a fellow veteran and ex-plain the benefits of becoming a member.

Have a good month and I’ll See you next month.

Membership Chairman

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My name is Carl, I have a son named Bob I have sto-ries of past hunts with my son Bob which alwaysseems to turn into some kind of adventure. I am inmy 60s and due to ill health, I cannot hunt any lon-ger but continue to by a hunting licence .

Bob is now is 40 and hunts without me. Bob is oneheck of a hunter. He is one of those guys that can fallasleep in the woods and deer will wake him up so hecan take one, he is very lucky that way. Seems Bobgets his deer every year.

I am reminded of a hunt way back in the late 80’s.Bob was I believe 16 on this hunt and very green. Iwill call this the thanksgiving day hunt.

I woke up Bob thanksgiving morning early as we hadto drive 45 minutes to hunt on Abbot MT. in Shap-liegh ME. We had been hunting all month long onSaturdays only.

We had several stands on the mountain but was notseeing deer. I could hear deer every time I sat on mystump but never saw them. I was getting frustratedso on thanksgiving morning I told bob he was goingto sit on my stump to see if he would have any betterluck.I parked the truck in a small sandpit below themountain and told Bob to get on the stand and wait.

I was to go up the road and cut in 300 yd's down andhead up to a second stand we had on the mountain.It was now legal shooting time so Bob took off in ahurry as only a young eager hunter would. I startedup the road. When I got to where I was to head up.Iheard a shot from where Bob was suppose to be atmy stump. Bob was using my 12 gauge pump shot-gun with double o,s. after about 30 seconds I heard 3more shots. By now I was pumped.

My 2 way radio crackled and my son Bob said dad, Igot him! well I ran up to him as fast as I could. I sawBob with a strange look on his face. I said where ishe? Bob said he ran off towards the top of the moun-tain. He then told me what happened. As soon as hesat down, he heard something coming his way. Bobsaid after a minute a huge deer came over the knoll

and was walking right towards him less then 20yards with his head down sniffing the ground.

Bob said the deer had so many points that he couldnot count them all. One tine was pointed down andwas dragging in the ground. Bob fired a shot and thedeer went head over heels and laid there. Then thedeer lifted its head and wobbled before getting upand bounding off in the direction of the top of themountain.

Bob said he didn't want to shoot again as he was surethe deer would pile up after a few leaps. When herealized the deer was not going to drop he fired sev-eral more desperate shots towards the fast departingdeer. Of course no hits with these shots. Bob lookedlike he was going to be sick. He kept telling me thedeer was as big as a horse, swollen neck with somuch headgear.

We started taking up the trail but was very difficultas there was only scattered drops of blood. The deerwould backtrack numerous times trying to lose us ashe was fully aware we were on him. Up the mountainhe went only to backtrack again and start circlingagain.

He took us through some of the best hunting areason the mountain, he took us through bedding areasfull of deer tracks . We followed up, down aroundand on the other side of the mountain. The onlyblood we would find is when the deer would stop heleft a few drops of blood in his track.

By now it was getting into the afternoon and we wereto be home for dinner. I told Bob that was it. Wewould not get this deer. Bob would not quit. I wentback to the vehicle to wait hoping Bob would quit ifhe was alone. But with the buck fresh in his mind, hecontinued till dark.Bob came back and said soon after I left he foundwhere the buck started bleeding bad, I’m not sure ifhe didn’t pick up on a different blood trail but as hefollowed he met up with a hunter that saw the deerrun by and Bob tracking so he helped Bob track.

A STOREY ABOUT BOB

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The hunter told bob that the way the deer was bleed-ing he would be pilled up soon. After trailing for anhour together the hunter told Bob he had to leave.

Bob stayed with it till it was too dark to continue. Wenever did get that buck but it will be brought up ev-ery hunting season. I believe Bob shot this deer in theantlers and 1 pellet ball hit him high in the shoulder.Not a kill shot and I’m sure the deer lived for manymore seasons.

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Catalog is50% off

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MERCHANDISE CATALOG

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P-1 Agent Orange Pin$5.00

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Pin (7/8 inch)$5.00

P - 3 Vietnam VeteransAgent Orange Victims

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P- 4 Iraqi FreedomVeteran with Ribbons Pin

(1 1/4 inch)$5.00

P-5 Chapter Pin$5.00

P-7 Guardian AngelPin

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P-8 New HampshirePOW/MIA Pin

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P- 6U.S. Flag and Cycle

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Pins

P- 9 Maine StatePOW/MIA Pin

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P- 10 US Navy SeabeesInsignia Pin (7/8 inch)

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PTCH-1Vietnam Veteran Memorial

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PTCH-10POW/MIAAwareness

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PTCH-11Vietnam Vet Flag

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Patches

P-18Two DefiningForces Patch

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P-19Every Day of

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P-20Boots-Rifle-Helmet

Red Patch$5.00

P-21Boots -Rifle-Helmet

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PTCH-22Disabled American

Veteran Patch$5.00

PTCH-23Agent Orange

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Hats

PH-1Purple HeartHat

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KVV-1Korean Veteran

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WWII-1 World WarII Veteran Hat

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OIF-1Operation

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STKR-10

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Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 1044ORDER FORM

Amount Item # Description Cost Total COMMENTS

TAX 5.5%TOTALSUBMITTED

NAME: _______________________________________________

ADDRESS: ____________________________________________

CITY/TOWN: __________________ ZiIP: ___________ PHONE: (____) - ____ - _____

Email: _____________________________________________

IF ORDERING BELT &BUCKLE PLEASE INCLUDEWAIST SIZE HERE:

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IMPORTANT INFORMATIONAll veterans should make sure that all documents associated with their military service are in a secure loca-tion and accessible to family members when the need arises. It is unfortunate that, all too often, veterans puttheir military papers in boxes or files and family members have no clue as to where to look to find them.

The veteran’s discharge papers — Form 100 Discharge, DD214 or NGD22 — are critical for any benefitsfor which a veteran or their family may be eligible. Do not keep the family in the dark on where they arelocated; make a list of all these documents and include a copy of the most recent “Federal Benefits for Vet-erans and their Dependents” pamphlet.

Too often, a situation arises in which the VA could provide valuable assistance and a delay is caused by alack of essential documents to speed the process for medical coverage or dependent assistance. Make it iseasy for your loved ones to assist you if the need arises.

I know that there will come a time when I will be in need of my family’s assistance, and I want them to beable to find and use the documents to ease their stress and have access to all eligible VA benefits. There aremany websites and information sources that are vital to veterans and their families; I recommend that theybecome familiar with these and make a list of these resources, so that the veteran and their family can haveaccess to them immediately when needed.

Here is a list of information and details that veterans should have available to their loved ones:

Name, Address, State, Zip Code;

DD214, DD215 or NGD 22, Form 100 Discharge;

Date of Enlistment Location;

Date of Discharge — Location;

Branch of Service — Service Number;

Date of Birth & Birth Certificate;

Date of Marriage & Marriage Certificate;

VA Medical Card & Medicare Cards;

Government or Life Insurance Policies;

VA Claim Number — Social Security Number;

Certificate of Eligibility (COE) — Home Loan;

Bank Accounts —Safe Deposit Box & Location;

Records Location and any VA or Social Security Compensation;

Other Documents — Deeds, Mortgages, Will, Living Will instructions, and more; and

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VA Office where records are located.

All of the above information is very important to have and can be included in one simple to use bookletcalled “THE PAPER SAFE”. It has been designed by our sister organization The Associates of VietnamVeterans of America.

If you would like to obtain a copy of this booklet you can stop by our R & R center located in the basementof the American Legion Post 26 508 Elm Street, Biddeford, Maine or call us at 207-494-9287. If by chancethere is no answer please leave a message with you name address and we will make sure you get a copy.

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VETERAN LICENSE PLATE DECALS

For FREE replacement of faded Campaign or Service decals:

Write to:

Secretary of State Bureau of Motor Vehicles 29 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333-0029

*Include a copy of your registration and a note requesting replacements

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SUPPORTERS PAGESupport Those That Support US!!

(Cost to have your company business card placed here in our newsletter as well as on our website is only $25.00per year)

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Membership in VVA is the Right ChoiceFirst I want to say "WELCOME HOME "

The goals of Vietnam Veterans of America are to promote and support the fullrange of issues important to Vietnam veterans. To create a new identity for thisgeneration of veterans and to change public perception of Vietnam veterans.

VVA is a "home of our own" - a community of fellowship with people who shareour experiences, needs, and hopes for the future.

Be as active as your time, talents, and interests allow. Or, simply be a proudmember of VVA, knowing that your membership helps VVA work for you andyour fellow Vietnam veterans.

Membership includes a subscription to our award-winning newspaper, The VVAVeteran, bringing you updates on issues and legislation affecting veterans, aswell as unique articles on the people, places, and history of the Vietnam experi-ence.

Membership is open to U.S. armed force veterans who served on active duty (forother than training purposes) in the Republic of Vietnam between February 28,1961 and May 7, 1975, or in any duty location between August 5, 1964 and May7, 1975.

Our chapter is very active working hard to help our brothers and sisters, theirfamilies and veterans of today.

We meet once a month at the American Legion Post 26 located at 508 Elm StreetBiddeford. Meetings start at 1:30 (13:30)

If you would like further information on joining our chapter please email meyour mailing address at [email protected] I will send the informa-tion to you.

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07 April 2019 Chapter Meeting / Election of Officers

Information on these and other events may be found on our web site athttp://www.vva1044maine.org

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