Last Three Soldiers Standing: Defoliation of the Korean DMZ

By David Rogers, James Furgal and William Gary McGuire

We decided this book should be written to tell the truth about defoliating the Korean Demilitarized Zone through 1968 and 1970 which left a deadly legacy of toxic chemicals affecting the health of U.S. soldiers, their counterparts in the Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army (KATUSA), the First Republic of Korea Army (FROKA), and Korean civilians for years to come. The lies, conspiracies, and collusion between the chemical companies and the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs continue to this day as compensation claims and pensions by veterans of the Korean DMZ are delayed and denied until the applicants die. Congress has historically acted disparagingly towards all soldiers who were exposed to Agent Orange and the other toxic defoliants while serving in theaters outside of Vietnam—that needs to stop.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Rogers
• Release date: Mar 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463167564

Book preview

LAST THREE SOLDIERS STANDING

Defoliation of the Korean DMZ

What the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs Don’t Want You to Know

by

Former

1LT DAVID K. ROGERS

SSG JAMES J. FURGAL

2nd Infantry Division Chemical Section

and

SGT WILLIAM (GARY) McGUIRE

25th Chemical Company, I Corps Special Troops

Smashwords Edition

Published on Smashwords by:

Geological Engineering

Pollock Pines, CA 95726

Last Three Soldiers Standing

Defoliation of the Korean DMZ

What the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs Don’t Want You to Know

Copyright 2018 by David K. Rogers, James J. Furgal, and William (Gary) McGuire

All right reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the both the copyright owners and the above publisher of this book.

The authors acknowledge the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this book, which have been properly cited, but without written permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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DEDICATORY

This book is dedicated to all of the American, First Republic of Korea, and Korean Augmentation to U.S. Army soldiers who have served in and around the Korean Demilitarized Zone that have been exposed to toxic, tactical defoliants.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

What is all the Fuss About Agent Orange, Agent Blue and Monuron?

Agent Orange

Agent Blue

Monuron

Let There Be Light Across the Land

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

References

Appendices

Chapter 1: Where We All Came From and How We Got Together

Former Lieutenant Rogers

Former Staff Sergeant Furgal

Former Sergeant McGuire

Problems With Filing Disability Claims

Why We Are Publishing This Book

Chapter 2: Disparity Between Vietnam and Korean DMZ Veterans

Agent Orange Settlement Fund

Subsequent Legislation

H R 556-Agent Orange Act of 1991

Veterans Benefit Act of 2003 Amendment of 2011

H R 334-Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2017

S 1094-VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017

H R 2288-Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017

Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 Amendment of 2017

Pending or Stalled Legislation

H R 3605-Fairness for Korean DMZ Veterans Act of 2017

H R 209-Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2018

S 3175-Thailand Veteran Agent Orange Parity Act of 2018

Additional Pending Veterans Administration Rulings

Chapter 3: Refuting the Seven Myths of Korean DMZ Defoliation

Myth No 1 — U S Soldiers Were Never Involved in Defoliation

Myth No 2 — You Were Never There-Presumptive Units/Locations

Myth No 3 — Agent Blue and Telvar Monuron Has No DVA Presumptive Diseases

Myth No 4 — Korean DMZ Veterans Had to Have Been There at a Prescribed Period of Time

Myth No 5 — Limited Number of Barrels of Agent Orange Were Diverted From Vietnam

Myth No 6 — Personal Accounts Are Not Reliable

Myth No 7 — The Area Treated Was Small and Exposure Was Minimal

Lies, Conspiracy, Collusion by Chemical Industries and Government

Chapter 4: Navigating Through the VA Disability Compensation Claims and Appeals Process

Should I file a claim by myself using the e-benefits website?

Where can I find a Veterans Service Officer to assist me?

Which Veterans Service Officer should I choose?

I am not a member of a Veteran’s Service Organization, but can I file a claim through one of those organizations?

What are the units/locations presumed to be exposed to Agent Orange?

What if you were not in one of the above units but have a disease or Condition related to Agent Orange?

What diseases/conditions are considered presumptive by DVA?

What if I have a disease/condition that is not on the DVA Presumptive List for Agent Orange?

A Ridiculous Example

Special Important Advice

You should always file a claim as soon as possible

What should I do if my claim is prematurely denied?

Disability Benefits Questionnaire and Typical Forms to Accompany Claims

Chapter 5: Our Stories

Lieutenant Rogers’ Story

Staff Sergeant Furgal’s Story

Sergeant McGuire’s Story

Chapter 6: How We Have Assisted Veterans Exposed to Toxic Herbicides

A Few Case Histories of David Rogers

A Few Case Histories of James Furgal

A Few Case Histories of Gary McGuire

References

Appendices

Appendix A — Herbicides Used Outside of Vietnam

Appendix B — Timeline of Toxic Defoliants

Appendix C — David K Rogers Resume

INTRODUCTION

The three co-authors of this book, former Lieutenant David K. Rogers, Staff Sergeant James J. Furgal, and Sergeant William (Gary) McGuire all served together in and near the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) during 1969 and 1970. Rogers and Furgal were in the Chemical Corps, assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division (2ID) while McGuire was an Infantry soldier, who had served in Vietnam before being re-assigned with the 25th Chemical Company (Smoke Generator), I Corps Special Troops Korea. Rogers was the Officer in Charge, with assistance from Furgal and McGuire, for the defoliation operations within and south of the Korean DMZ, conducted by a platoon-size work party of Korean Augmentation to the US Army (KATUSA) soldiers. McGuire, who was fluent in Korean, was the KATUSA platoon sergeant, working closely with his Korean counterpart, Sergeant Yoon. All three U.S. soldiers and KATUSA’s were temporarily assigned to serve with the 3rd Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Regiment, housed at Camp Liberty Bell, north of the Civilian Control Line or Imjin River.

The 2ID sector of the Korean DMZ was anything but demilitarized, a classical example of one of the many military oxymoron. All three soldiers conducted defoliation operations for more than eight months within a combat zone, earning the 2ID award of Imjin Scouts under the protective care of the permanently assigned Infantry units manning the DMZ. Other 2ID work parties had previously been ambushed and in the fall of 1969, four Engineer Soldiers were ambushed and killed near the area being defoliated.

However, unknown to them at the time, North Korean infiltrators, assault teams and snipers were not what would change their lives forever; it was the toxic, tactical defoliants developed 20 years earlier by the chemical industries. Over those eight months in a hostile fire zone they and others were exposed daily to Agent Orange with the deadly contaminant dioxin at full strength, Agent Blue, containing the World’s oldest poisons—arsenic, and Monuron, a toxic chlorinated urea with now known health risks.

Why did they all willingly expose themselves and the KATUSA soldiers to these deadly poisons? At the time, they were told the lies, these defoliants are no more harmful than aspirin or they are not harmful to mammals and humans, and they were young, naïve, obedient soldiers. Isn’t exposing yourself to an unknown killer in order to deny the enemy cover and concealment while saving American lives a noble ideal?

After their service in Korea, they each took a different path in life. Rogers resigned his commission shortly after the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam and pursued a career in geological/geotechnical/environmental engineering. In disgust, Furgal resigned from the Army as the youngest E-8 Sergeant after the fall of Saigon in 1975, went back to college and a career in helicopter metallurgy, later forming his own international consulting business. Former Sergeant McGuire continued with the Army, attending college and earning a commission as an Armor Officer, retired as a Major and continues to work for the Department of Defense.

After they left Korea and went their separate ways, fortuitously these three former soldiers became drawn together again through their personal health issues from exposure to Agent Orange, Agent Blue and Telvar Monuron and a common desire to help their fellow Korean DMZ soldiers who experience the long neglected, denied and delayed fair and equal consideration for exposure to toxic tactical defoliants. They are not three angry old men—they are only asking for fair and equal treatment by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), Department of Defense (DOD), and Congress with regard to disability claims and pensions for exposure to toxic defoliants. They served, as others did. And because of that service, they and all other Vietnam era Veterans exposed to toxic defoliants are entitled to respect, medical care, and fair compensation for their disabilities incurred from exposure to toxic defoliants.

WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT AGENT ORANGE, AGENT BLUE AND MONURON?

Simply stated, for Korean DMZ Veterans, the concern with three of fifteen Rainbow defoliants, Agent Orange, Agent Blue and Monuron isn’t about these tactical defoliants, but what they contained as either a contaminant or a primary component. Let’s take each one and dissect the issues that cause the horrible cancers and other health issues later in life.

AGENT ORANGE

The active ingredients of Agent Orange were an equal mixture of two separate phenoxy herbicides, 2,4-diclorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5 trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T). Alone or in the 50:50 mixture they were not highly toxic in themselves. However, the contaminant 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), commonly known as dioxin belonging to a family of dioxins, known as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) is the most dangerous molecule known to man (EPA, 2000). There are 75 PCDDs, differing only in the number and location of chlorine atoms, and out of these 75, seven are especially toxic, the most dangerous being TCDD (Wikipedia-Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds).

The contaminant TCDD was initially thought to be present only in 2,4-D; however, later studies found both phenoxy herbicides contained trace amounts of TCDD with 2,4,5-T containing the lion’s share. Highly toxic dioxins are not unique to Agent Orange, and therein lies the problem. Almost any form of combustion creates highly toxic dioxins as the primary environmental source of dioxins is combustion (Zook and Rappe, 1994). According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR, 1998) an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Muller et al (2020) and IOM (2011) combustion or high temperature processes that produce highly toxic dioxins include:

• Waste incineration (municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, medical waste, hazardous waste, military waste from burn pits,

• Desalinization of sea water for U.S. and Australian Naval ships,

• Coal and natural gas fired electric power plants,

• Shredded wood fired electric power plants,

• Cement kilns,

• Forest fires,

• Volcanic eruptions,

• Structural fires in cities and urban areas,

• Residential wood and vegetative burning,

• Residential fireplaces and barbeques,

• Backyard burn barrels,

• Burning plastic, treated wood, pesticide treated material,

• Metal smelting and refining,

• Petroleum refining,

• Chlorine bleaching of pulp and paper,

• Biological and photochemical processes such as composting,

• All combustion engines (automobiles, trucks, trains, planes, ships, etc.),

• Tobacco, marijuana, and vaping smoke, and of course,

• Any chemical or pharmaceutical manufacturing reactions that occur during the combustion of organic compounds in the presence of chlorinated materials.

So, in any industrialized country, particularly around heavily populated metropolitan areas of America, Europe, Asia, and Russia, highly toxic dioxins are constantly entering the atmosphere 24/7 and have been entering the atmosphere at an accelerated rate since the late 1800’s, and then accumulated in the soil and waterways at an even more accelerated rate in the 1940’s with the proliferation of plastics and rapid populations growth after WWII.

And there are dioxin reservoirs which keep the historic and pre-historic production of TCDD available for continued exposure long after they were produced. Long term reservoirs may be characterized as soils, sediments and to a lesser extent, waterways because of the insolubility of dioxins. Aerosols or environmental suspension represents a short-term reservoir as dioxins are absorbed onto particulate matter (dust) or are volatized until they precipitate from the atmosphere as rainfall. This is one way, California receives dioxins from China, Japan and Malaysia, and another other way is by imported fish, as discussed later.

The reader must now realize, in industrialized nations, there is no escaping exposure to highly toxic dioxins, but that is not the end of the story, because dioxins are both persistent in the environment, 25 to 100 years in soils and sediment below a few inches and are bio-accumulative (ATSDR, 1998, Martini, 2014, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1998, Washington State Department of Ecology, 2000, Aspen Institute, 2018, U.S. EPA, 2000, Environment Australia, 1999, and Agent Orange Canada, 2018).

And how do these highly toxic dioxins cause health problems and when do these problems occur? A complete medical and scientific explanation of this complex series of events is beyond the scope of this book and those readers versed in medicine and organic chemistry are referred to the most recent publication of The National Academy of Science (2018) PDF available at www.nap.edu/25137. The following discussion is partly based on that reference and other cited references, but discussed in general lay terms.

The characteristics causing persistence of dioxins in the environment, also cause slow elimination in humans and all vertebrate animals. TCCD is absorbed into the body rapidly, but eliminated slowly. Because of its very lipophilic (attraction to fat), resistant biotransformation, and extremely low solubility, kidneys cannot secrete dioxin in urine and TCDD collects in the lipid (fatty) fraction of the blood serum and other tissue compartments, especially the liver and fat deposits where it stays for a very long time. The exposure to humans, particularly Veterans, is primarily via the mouth and lungs, and a lesser pathway, the skin. Continued exposure over time and dietary habits of industrialized nations contributes to an ever increasing toxic load or TCDD. Humans are at the top of the food chain, as are most carnivores, so when we consume fish, meat, milk, and other fatty foods, we are adding to our dioxin tank, and over time, adding to the environmental dioxin load from the atmosphere and other natural sources. This whole process is called bio-augmentation. So, unless you are a strict vegan, living in the remote fringes of Mongolia, your uptake of TCDD is tolerable until you reach the later years of your life. For example, the average levels of dioxin in the 20 to 50 year old U.S. population is about 25 parts per trillion (ppt) and approximately 10% of the population may have tissue levels as much as three times this level according to U.S. EPA (2000). That is precisely why most, not all, cancers and most, not all, of the 14 presumptive diseases associated with exposure to Agent Orange occur past age 50 and occur at an increasing rate in your 60’s and 70’s.

Now, let’s take the case of an 18-20 year old soldier, who is exposed to Agent Orange in any military theater during the Vietnam era (1960-1975) or the Korean DMZ Veteran who is exposed to residual TCDD from testing of defoliation or the actual defoliation during the Vietnam era, that person receives a significant initial TCDD intake, particularly those soldiers who did or supervised the actual spraying (National Academy of Science, 2018). Simply stated, their TCDD tanks are immediately filled to their biological capacity but rarely have received such an immediate dose that they experience one of the 14 presumptive diseases recognized by the VA within one year of departure from the service. But, if they continue to live anywhere within any of the civilized, industrial nations, the likelihood of them contracting cancer or any of the 14 presumptive diseases is far greater than any civilian who did not serve and was not exposed to Agent Orange. In summary, the fact of exposure to Agent Orange alone places those Veterans in a much high risk category than the general population who were not exposed to Agent Orange—and the VA should, but does not always, recognize this reality.

AGENT BLUE

Since the 1500’s inorganic arsenic has been used (Wikipedia, 2018) as the poison de jure by murderers of heads of state, political adversaries or disliked leaders including:

• Francisco I de’ Medici, 1587 (possibly by his brother and successor),

• Eric XIV of Sweden, 1577 (exhumed in 1958—forensic analysis),

• George III of Great Britain, 1820 (2004 study of hair samples),

• Theodor Ursinus, 1800 (by his wife who also poisoned her aunt and lover),

• Napoleon Bonaparte, 1821 (hair samples contained 13 times normal amount, but could have been from environmental exposure to pigments in wallpaper),

• King Faisal I of Iraq, 1933 (last visit to Switzerland for medical treatment),

• Ten other unfortunates including an independence leader, American explorer, American ambassador to Italy, Chinese emperor, popular opposition leader in Zambia, an Indonesian human right and anti-corruption activist, President of Zimbabwe, and State minister for primary health care, Dr. Moriku Joyce, and

• Even the famous and largely successful New Zealand-bred race horse Phar Lap was found to have been arsenic poisoned by forensic studies 75 years after the horse’s death.

In addition to arsenic’s presence as a poison, it was used medically for centuries, found as a traditional Chinese medicine for over 2,400 years. Even as late as the early 1900’s, some pigments, most notably the popular Emerald Green cause frequent accidental poisoning of artist and craftsmen.

Inorganic arsenic is a naturally occurring metalloid found in two valance states, +5 and +3, of which the latter is the most toxic and deadly in very low concentrations. And like dioxins, arsenic is extremely stable in the soil, groundwater, water bodies, rivers and streams, and can be transported long distances in the atmosphere attached to dust particles and other airborne matter, never degrading or becoming less toxic (arsenic does not have a half-life). The main sources of inorganic arsenic are:

Groundwater and drinking water—the World Health Organization (WHO) established a drinking water quality guideline value of 0.01 milligrams per liter (10 part per billion). Naturally occurring arsenic in drinking water is a world-wide problem. For example, median levels in Nevada are about 8 parts per billion, but levels as high as 10,000 parts per billion have been measured in United States’ drinking water. Inorganic arsenic is naturally present at high levels in the groundwater of a number of countries, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, China, India, Mexico, and the U.S. In fact, Nevada leads the nation in environmental releases of inorganic arsenic with 30,017 pounds/year released to water and 98,894,564 pounds/year released to land (ATSDR, 2007).

Food—in the United States, Schoof et al (1999) estimated the average adult intake of arsenic is 3.2 micrograms/day with a range of 1-20 micrograms/day. For most people, diet is the largest source of exposure to inorganic and organic arsenic. Mean dietary intakes of total arsenic of 56.6 to 58.5 micrograms/day have been reported for females and males, respectively (ATSDR, 2007). The predominant dietary source of arsenic is generally seafood (fin and shell), and like dioxin, arsenic is bio-accumulative in the food chain, with humans being at the top or end, unless we fall prey to some carnivore and they end up with all the nasties.

Smoking—some reports have indicated that smoking (cigarettes, cigars, vaping is associated with a decreased ability to methylate ingested inorganic arsenic (Tseng, 2005). Although tobaccos can contain inorganic arsenic, Ferreccio et al (2000) found that cigarette smoking and ingesting inorganic arsenic had a synergistic effect.

Industrial Manufacturing and Wood Preservatives—Most of the inorganic arsenic used in industrial processes is for antifungal wood preservatives, which lead to soil contamination. Incineration of arsenic treated wood also adds to atmospheric contamination. Other industrial sources of inorganic arsenic are pharmaceutical and glass manufacturing, manufacturing of certain alloys, sheep dips, leather preservatives, certain paint pigments, anti-fouling paints, and poison baits. Use of inorganic arsenic in pesticides is no longer permitted in North America, but allowed in other continents.

So, like dioxins, inorganic arsenic is present and ubiquitous in the environment, but unlike dioxins, because of its high solubility in water, it is easily eliminated from the body through urination after the liver has metabolized it into organic arsenic, leaving small amounts of inorganic and organic arsenic in the liver, blood and other organs.

Organic arsenic, that which is the same as cacodylic acid (dimethylarsinic acid) and cacodylite salts, the two main arsenical compound of Agent Blue are much less toxic than inorganic arsenic. These organic arsenical compounds were once thought never to be able to convert to the highly toxic inorganic arsenic. However, that argument proposed by many of the poultry feed supplement manufacturers, proved to be wrong. Until 2012, chickens in farms in the U.S. were fed an organic arsenic or dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) supplement to prevent certain parasites and make the meat plump and pink. The chemical, feed and chicken industries had insisted the arsenic was organic and therefore, not poisonous. However, when livers of organic arsenic treated chickens were compared with those not treated, inorganic arsenic was found only in the treated chickens. U.S. Drug & Food Administration researchers concluded in a 2011 peer-evaluated study that organic arsenic had converted into the lethal inorganic arsenic. Alpharma, a subsidiary of Pfizer, Inc. decided to voluntarily suspend sale of the organic arsenic feed stock in the U.S. in 2012. On April 1, 2015, Zoetis, Inc., a veterinary drug manufacturer discontinued marketing the only arsenic-based animal drug on