From the left: Bowser, Mack and Young take picture with an AO child victim at the Da Nang Center for AO/Dioxin Victims.

On August 31, the Peace Boat of Japan landed at Da Nang’s Tien Sa Port, bringing 900 international visitors to Da Nang to visit landscapes in central Vietnam. However, Mr. Kenneth Young (Canadian), Mrs. Heather Bowser and Ms. Jena Mack (American) who represent three generations of AO victims chose another destination. They and Japanese AO/dioxin victims traveled 40km to visit Vietnamese AO victims.

After talking and playing with AO child victims at the Da Nang Center for AO/Dioxin Victims, in Hoa Vang district, Da Nang city, the three people told about the damaging effects of AO on themselves, their visits to AO victims and their actions to ask for justice.

Bowser, 40, is the daughter of an American veteran who lived in Vietnam in 1965-1969. Before she was born, her parents had to burry two deformed inborn babies. Bowser was born two months prematurely, with only one leg and two deformed hands. This was her second visit to Vietnam.


Tan Tu, 5, who lives near the Da Nang International Airport, was recently detected as infected with dioxin.

Bowser walked around a US military base in Okinawa, Japan, with her artificial leg. She watched many websites about Okinawa. She was obsessed by the scenes of Japanese people who were dead by eating AO-infected seafood. She pledged herself to do meaningful things to help herself and other AO victims in the world.

She appeared as the main character in a movie entitled “Spring in Silence,” which moved the heart of Okinawa people. She expressed her worry over Okinawa people’s living with AO, which was sprayed by the US in the 70s. According to journalist Jon Mitchell’s two-year research, around 5.2 million liters of AO and dioxin was sprayed here. Dioxin-infected soil in Okinawa has not been detoxified yet.

There is a truth that over 30 American veterans who are witnesses of AO/dioxin spraying, burying or excavation in Okinawa have not received any assistance from the US government for their injuries because the US government denied the use of dioxin in Okinawa.

Bowser said that the US government only assists AO victims who are female soldiers while most of soldiers are male. “It is difficult that toxic chemical producers do not admit their acts and they are willing to hire excellent lawyers to deny their sins. Victims like me will continue struggling to ask for justice,” she said.


Jena Mack, 18.

As a soldier in Gagetown, Canada, Young was obsessed by the toxic chemical which was experimentally sprayed at his base before it was brought to Vietnam. He was also infected with the chemical.

“Joining the Peace Boat is an opportunity forum to discuss the matter of asking justice for AO victims not only in Vietnam but in the whole world,” he said.

He added that many people from Australia, Guam, South Korea and other countries are also affected by AO. Veterans in Canada are struggling to be recognized and assisted from the government and chemical producers in Canada.

“I’m the third generation of AO victims. My mother is facing pains everyday,” Mack said. The 18-year-old girl was the winner of a teen beauty contest in California.  Her grandfather, Jim Schicoti, an American veteran who was infected with AO, died one day before Mack went on board of the Peace Boat.

Her mother has seriously suffered from AO. She experienced several surgeries. And now, Mack is also an AO victim. However, in the US, male soldiers’ descendants like her are now allowed to enjoy any assistance.

She said that Vietnamese AO victims who are determined to claim for justice urged her to take action.

“As citizens of different countries who live on the same planet, our priority is not war or economic growth at any cost, but the sustainability and global peace for us and the future generations,” she said.

On August 14, the Ministry of Defense announced the testing results of 62 people in two districts near the Da Nang International Airport, where the US army stored dioxin, who were randomly chosen for the tests and all of them are infected with dioxin.

Compiled by P. Lan

Source: VNE/ vietnamnet.vn