‘Light The Night’ Honors Vietnam Veterans Suffering From Effects Of Agent Orange
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Belmont County Tourism Executive Director Jackee Pugh remembers watching her uncle, a Vietnam War veteran, battle lung cancer that was a direct effect of being exposed to Agent Orange.
“Witnessing him struggle with his health, then listening to him tell those stories — he still very much had PTSD from the things he saw — but then you add those health concerns on top of it, and it was just heartbreaking,” she said. “He would talk about when he came home from the war and how he was not welcomed. Those wounds stuck with him just as much as the Agent Orange.”
So it was comforting to Pugh, a member of The Wall That Heals Belmont County committee, to be at the display Friday night for a “Light the Night” ceremony. The short ceremony honored those Vietnam veterans who suffered from the effects of Agent Orange long after they returned home.
Agent Orange was a herbicide and defoliant used during the Vietnam War and sprayed over the jungles of Vietnam while soldiers fought there. Later on, those chemicals caused numerous maladies for those soldiers. Among them were chronic B-cell leukemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, prostate cancer, respiratory cancer, lung cancer and soft tissue sarcomas. Some of their wives suffered miscarriages or gave birth to children with birth defects due to the exposure to those chemicals.
Wall That Heals Site Manager Tim Tetz said Friday’s ceremony is one of the three main events at each of the display’s stops, along with the welcome home and closing ceremonies. Tetz said Friday’s is unlike any of the others.
“It’s a short, beautiful, iconic ceremony where people can recognize the impact this war had on us and those who came back and who are still struggling with the diseases they carried back with them from Vietnam,” he said.
Following an introduction from Wall That Heals Committee co-chair Roberta Raymond and American Legion Post 159 Commander Larry Barnes and an invocation from Post 159 Chaplain Larry Perkins, Raymond and Barnes offered a short history of Agent Orange and its effects. Then visitors lit battery powered candles and, with bagpiper Betsy Bethel-McFarland, walked toward the wall, set those candles in front of it and reflected on loved ones suffering from Agent Orange-based diseases.
After a moment of silence, they listened to bugler Jon Domachowski play “Taps” to conclude the ceremony.
“It gives me some peace and gives me some sense of pride that I’m a part of this ceremony tonight,” Pugh said, “raising awareness for so many of our veterans that are still struggling with the side effects.”