Latest news with #Deible
CBS News
24-03-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Vietnam veterans impacted by effects of Agent Orange given new recognition with Orange Heart medal
According to the federal government, an estimated 300,000 Vietnam veterans have died from the dangers of Agent Orange. The defoliant was heavily used during the conflict. Now, there is a new recognition for those impacted by Agent Orange called the Orange Heart. The Orange Heart isn't officially recognized by the Department of Defense, but that doesn't matter because people behind the medal say it's a certain amount of recognition that is richly deserved. Agent Orange was known as a chemical called dioxin. Approximately 12 million gallons of it were used during the Vietnam War, and it killed any plant it touched. "There are still places in Vietnam that won't grow anything because the ground is so saturated with it," said Vietnam veteran Jerry Deible. "If you were boots on the ground in Vietnam, you were exposed to Agent Orange, no matter what your job was." Named for the orange stripes on the barrels it came in, the Veteran's Administration says Agent Orange's effects have killed more than 300,000 veterans since the end of the war. To put that into perspective, the war itself resulted in roughly 58,000 American casualties. "The Purple Heart recognized physically wounded combatants; we were physically wounded, but you can't see it," Deible said. That's where the Orange Heart comes in. It's not officially recognized as a formal decoration, but Deible and many other Vietnam veterans say it should be. "One of the things they're striving for is to have Agent Orange recognized as a combat injury." On April 12, at Murrysville Alliance Church, the Orange Heart Medal Foundation will award the decoration to Agent Orange vets or family members who have lost loved ones due to Agent Orange poisoning. "The community cannot forget. We cannot forget," said Pastor Dan Lawrence of Murrysville Alliance Church. This little medal may not seem like much, but for veterans like Deible, this Orange Heart comes straight from the heart. "The old pat on the back and the handshake aren't coming. This is something and there are a lot of guys who appreciate it," Deible said. For more information about the Orange Heart Medal Foundation, click here .
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Murrysville church will host 'Orange Heart' ceremony for Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange
Mar. 23—Jerry Deible of Murrysville can remember standing on the ground at a Vietnam firebase in the early 1970s, staring up at a massive C-130 airplane passing overhead. He craned his head back and snapped a photo of the plane as liquid streamed down from tanks strapped to its sides. The C-130 was spraying Agent Orange, an herbicidal defoliant that got its name from the orange band wrapped around the drums it came in. While there were other chemicals used to thin the triple-canopy Vietnamese jungles, Agent Orange accounted for 12 million of the 20 million gallons dropped over an area roughly the size of Massachusetts, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. After more than 15 years of denying that the dioxin in Agent Orange was linked to cancers, birth defects and other medical issues with Vietnam veterans, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was empowered in 1991 to declare a range of 19 diseases as probable effects of Agent Orange exposure, including several cancers. But its poisonous legacy has gone largely unacknowledged by the federal government. "We were told it was perfectly safe," said Deible, 76. "There were guys who'd go around the border of the firebase with jungle pants, boots and no shirts on with a pump tank of Agent Orange strapped to their backs, spraying it all over." Deible has joined with Murrysville Alliance Church Pastor Dan Lawrence to host an April 12 ceremony presenting Vietnam veterans with recognition from the nonprofit Orange Heart Medal Foundation. The foundation was created by Vietnam veteran Ken Gamble, who was diagnosed with cancer as a result of Agent Orange exposure. "This is recognition not by the federal government, but by one of their veteran brothers," Lawrence said. "Jerry came to me and said he felt like we needed to do something to recognize our vets dealing with this. We can't forget." The foundation's name comes from the medal presented to participating veterans, which is an orange heart with the letters "A" an "O" on either side of an outline of Vietnam. "When the Purple Heart was commissioned, it was the only award permitted to be in the shape of a heart," Deible said. "But when Ken Gamble started the foundation, he got permission from the government to make it in the same shape." The foundation was created in Tennessee, where the state legislature was the first in the nation to pass a law recognizing veterans affected by Agent Orange, in 2019. Nine additional states have joined Tennessee in the years since. In early 2024, the Pennsylvania Legislature convened a task force with the goal of helping better communicate treatment options to exposed veterans. Vietnam veterans or their surviving spouses can fill out an application to take part in the April 12 ceremony and receive an Orange Heart. Applications are available at Deible and Lawrence said poor treatment of Vietnam veterans returning to the U.S. after the war was compounded years later by a lack of recognition that millions of them had been exposed to a toxic herbicide. "The thinking today goes, if you were boots-on-the-ground in Vietnam, you were exposed to Agent Orange in some way," Deible said. Said Lawrence: "When these guys talk to me about how they came home and all that transpired, it's heartbreaking. We're saying to the community: Let's come together, pay respect to our Vietnam vets, acknowledge that Agent Orange is a real thing and not walk away from it." Medals have been given to more than 11,000 veterans during the nonprofit's short history. The public is invited to attend the April 12 event, which will start with an 11:30 a.m. luncheon at the church, 4130 Old William Penn Highway in Murrysville, followed by the medal ceremony. Applications are due by March 30. For more information or to RSVP, call 724-327-7206 or email office@ For more on the foundation, see Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@
