Fallen Leaves, Broken Lives
(Page 7 of 8)
January / February 2005
By Edward Tick
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Veterans who return to Viet Nam to achieve reconciliation often realize that the fate of Americans and Vietnamese are now one, our people united as victims of the same suffering caused by modern war.
NO ONE KNOWS HOW long the dioxin in Agent Orange lodges in the DNA or how many generations will inherit its effects. In Viet Nam, severe disabilities that have been blamed on the defoliant are appearing in a second generation since the war. Last year in Hong Ngoc's province, which has a population of 1 million, over 300 cases of extreme disability were discovered.
The Hong Ngoc Humanity Center is a haven from poverty, helplessness, and despair. Its three centers now serve about 500 disabled people, and thanks to its entrepreneurial spirit, and help from friends abroad, it is expanding its reach. Its residents count themselves lucky, since some 3 million disabled young people are living all over Viet Nam.
"My generation will never be free of suffering," concludes Dinh, the 55-year-old vet who drove a truck on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. "But we can work together for the future and for our grandchildren, to make sure they never see war again."
Assistant director Nguyen Thanh Diep agrees, pointing out that Hong Ngoc means Rosy Jade. "We chose this name for our center because our people are not the dust of life. No matter how disabled, our children are precious gems. Vietnamese people know who the gems are."
CASUALTIES OF THE VIET NAM WAR
THERE ARE MORE THAN 58,000 NAMES OF AMERICAN DEAD ON THE WALL IN WASHINGTON, D.C., BUT THE TOTAL COSTS ARE STILL BEING TALLIED.
THE PEOPLE |
| | American Veterans | Vietnamese People |
| In Country | 2.5 million | est. 1970 pop. 41 million |
| In Combat | 1.5 million | unknown |
| Killed in Action | 58,000+ | 2.5 million |
| Wounded | 300,000+* | 4 million |
| Missing in Action | 2,000+ | 250,000 |
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | 1.5 million+ | unknown |
| Suicides | 100,000+ | unknown |
| Homeless | 150,000 nightly | unknown |
| Boat People | 0 | 1 million (Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia) |
| Lost at Sea | 0 | 500,000 |
| Disabled Street People | unknown | 3 million |
| New Agent Orange Deformities | unknown | 35,000/year |
| Peacetime Deaths Due to Unexploded Bombs & Mines | 0 | 50,000+ (Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia) |
| Maimed by Bombs and Mines (1975-98) | 0 | 67,000 |
| Reeducation Camps | 0 | 400,000 in 100 camps |
| * includes U.S: 74,000 quadriplegics and multiple amputees |
| | | |
THE VIETNAMESE LAND |
| Total Herbicides Used | 19.4 million gallons |
| Agent Orange Sprayed | 11.7 million gallons |
| Mangrove Forest Destroyed | 60% |
| Forest & Jungle Destroyed | 18% |
| Cultivated Land Destroyed | 8% |
| | | |
U.S. BOMBING |
| 8 billion+ pounds (4 times more than WWII total; equal to 600 Hiroshima-size bombs) |
| 23 million bomb craters |
| 2,257 U.S. aircraft lost |
| Over 4,000 of toal 5,778 villages bombed, 150 completely destroyed |
| | | |
DESTROYED |
| 10 million cubic meters of dikes | | |
| 815 hydroelectric works | | |
| 1,100 lake embankments | | |
| 8 forestries | | |
| 48 agricultural research centers with 6,000 agricultural machines and 46,000 water buffalo |
| 400 factories | | |
| 18 power stations | | |
| 13,000 boats | | |
| 15,100 bridges | | |
| 2,923 high schools and universities | | |
| 350 hospitals | | |
| 1,500 maternity hospitals | | |
| 484 churches | | |
| 465 pagodas | | |
| 240,540 thatched huts | | |
| | | |
TOTAL COST TO THE UNITED STATES: |
| $925 Billion | | |
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