Veteran tells of stress of unknown spray

3.00pm

New Zealand soldiers serving in the Vietnam War put their hands over billies of boiling water to avoid an oily slick left from spraying of a defoliant they were never told could have been Agent Orange, a Vietnam veteran said today.

Ron Turner, who served with 161 Battery in Vietnam in 1968-69, told a committee of MPs in Wellington today that the greatest problem for him was the stress of not knowing what he and his other friends from the war had been sprayed with.

Parliament's health select committee is carrying out an inquiry into the health effects of Agent Orange, after years of denials by governments that use of the spray caused any problems for the soldiers who served there.

Mr Turner said today that he and the other New Zealand soldiers were "young, fit and keen" to serve their country when they went to war.

Mr Turner, who was a second lieutenant in the army, said that when he left for the Vietnam war at age 22, "things like Agent Orange weren't in my vocabulary".

He recalled a day in Vietnam seeing two Hercules flying low spraying "something".

The soldiers thought very little of it at the time but if they had they would have considered it safe because "our Government and other governments were allowing it to happen to us," he said.

"We used to put ... our hand over the top of our billy ... because it left .. a little bit of an oily, kind of colourful screen on the top of the drink we were having," he said.

Mr Turner said fellow veterans in their 50s had died unexpectedly.

His problems were not as bad as others, although he suffered hearing loss from the noise of artillery.

He had been diagnosed with diabetes ,which some said could be caused by exposure to Agent Orange, and his eyesight was impaired.

"My eyes feel kind of a bit gritty all the time and once again people say ... this could be the result of Agent Orange."

He also got skin rashes, which some said could be from Agent Orange or shaving badly.

The greatest impact that Agent Orange had on him was the "stress" of "not knowing" what he was sprayed with and what effect that could have.

"We came home quite oblivious to any impact of Agent Orange and all of a sudden it started to hit the news and people started to suggest that nasty things can be the result and I think that's maybe the thing that worries me the most."

"The fittest and the strongest and the most capable" had gone to Vietnam, not those who had health problems.

He had gone into areas of jungle stripped of foliage.

"We used to say 'it's been sprayed"' but never asked what spray was used, Mr Turner said.

John Robinson, 53 Company, 4RAR Anzac Battalion 1968-69, told the committee he knew he had been sprayed and "contaminated" with Agent Orange.

"I definitely know it was done because I had it sprayed over my body more than once.

"Not only that, when I was on secondment to the Australian air force I witnessed it actually being loaded by the Australian ground crew into the baby Hercules C123."

The soldiers were sprayed with a cocktail of chemicals.

"I saw the jungle literally die in front of me. I drunk the damn stuff from the water and I do know that it was done," he said.

The soldiers were told by their commanding officers that the spraying was to get rid of mosquitos.

Mr Robinson said he had physical and mental health problems which he believed were attributed to Agent Orange.

"My skin feels as if there is a series of insects and ants crawling underneath it all the time. It just rolls, feelings of waves going over my skin and it's bloody painful. Thirty-odd years I've put up with this."

He had been forced out of work as a diesel engineer because of his irrational behaviour and his inability to make decisions.

Mr Robinson told the committee he feared for his children.

His boys seemed to be "all right", although they had not yet had children, but his daughter suffered health problems and had had three miscarriages, two of which "almost killed her".

His youngest son tried to forget "that I ever went there".

He felt ashamed that he had brought children into the world, placing "this sort of horrific burden on them" and he was ashamed that the powers who sent him to Vietnam did not believe the veterans.

Mr Robinson said he was heavily in debt as a result of his medical bills and should get compensation.

The effects of Agent Orange had been covered up by governments to avoid paying out compensation, he said.

"It really did happen, people."

- NZPA