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Australian Veterans And Agent Orange Victims

By VVAW

It's a familiar story to Vietnam vets everywhere. There's the initial knowledge about the use of defoliants in Southeast Asia. Then came the case histories of cancer deaths, physical and mental symptoms, stillborn and deformed children.

Vietnam vets, either in already existing organizations, new groups, and finally coalitions began to do battle with the government, the veterans administration, chemical companies and even traditional vets organizations.

The fight for testing, treatment and compensation follows a twisted maze of half-stepping, double-dealing bureaucracies, vicious counter-attacks by chemical companies and "next-to-nothing" support from the traditional vets organizations which voice support for Agent Orange victims while sitting on their large asses and launching slanderous attacks on Vietnam vets leading the fight.

So what's new, you say??? Well, the difference here is that it's not U.S. Vietnam vets we're talking about, but the mirror image of our battle in Australia. Like VVAW and other Vietnam vets groups in the U.S., the nationwide Vietnam Veterans Association (Australia) is waging an uphill battle against effects of Agent Orange.

In recent correspondence with VVAW, Graham Bell, President, Queensland branch of V.V.A.A., state, "One of the main problems we have in Australia is that several decision makers and influential public figures, both inside and outside the federal parliament, have placed every possible obstacle in the way of the Vietnam veterans, possibly out of fear of what will happen to them once we get an independent judicial inquiry—there has been very little direct public opposition to us, but behind the scenes, it is a very dirty and vicious fight."

The Returned Service League of Australia, an organization built along the lines of our American Legion or VFW, has been one of the major stumbling blocks in the path of the V.V.A.A. Bell commented, "The RSL is the largest and wealthiest ex-service organization in Australia. Vietnam war veterans have been approaching the RSL for assistance for over ten years, yet it is only since August 1979 that the RSL has made any moves on the issue of chemical agents and health problems."

In a significant move, the RSL openly attacked the Vietnam Veterans Association as merely trying "to gain cheap publicity by repeated attacks on the RSL."

Cheap publicity indeed! It is outrageous even to insinuate that Vietnam veterans fighting for their lives and the well-being of their families would require such methods, though we know that we have to fight for each inch of print and second of air time to expose the horror of Agent Orange and other chemical defoliants.

The V.V.A.A. demands certainly cannot be labelled as outlandish. They ask for an independent judicial inquiry into:

1. The misuse of certain inherently dangerous and certain chemical agents during the Vietnam War.
2. The various attempts to cover up and to mislead on the risks, applications, effects and disposal of these chemicals.

VVAW welcomes our brothers in Australia to the battles already being waged by U.S. and New Zealand Vietnam vets to right the wrongs of the use of Agent Orange; all of us need all the help we can get.

Bill Davis, VVAW National Office