Episode 2850 – Medal of Honor tribute to Army Major Frederick Edgar Ferguson    

Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient Army Major Frederick Edgar Ferguson.

Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient Army Major Frederick Edgar Ferguson.

Congressional Medal of Honor, Vietnam Veteran News, Mack Payne

Congressional Medal of Honor

Episode 2850 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Army Major Frederick Edgar Ferguson and his Congressional Medal of Honor award. Information featured in this episode comes from a story that appeared on the Victoria Cross Online website and was titled: Victoria Cross Online MOH.

Army Major Frederick Edgar Ferguson, a distinguished Medal of Honor recipient, demonstrated extraordinary bravery and selflessness during the Vietnam War. Born on August 18, 1939, in Pilot Point, Texas, Ferguson enlisted in the United States Army in 1958. He served as a helicopter pilot, where his skills and leadership quickly distinguished him from his peers.

On January 31, 1968, during the Tet Offensive, Ferguson displayed remarkable heroism while piloting a UH-1H Iroquois helicopter near Huế, Vietnam. Amidst heavy enemy fire, he volunteered for a high-risk mission to evacuate wounded soldiers from a besieged compound. Despite the imminent danger, Ferguson maneuvered his helicopter into the landing zone under intense enemy fire, skillfully landing in a narrow and precarious area. The enemy fire was so intense that it was puncturing the aircraft, but Ferguson remained undeterred.

Demonstrating calm under pressure, Ferguson safely extracted the wounded soldiers, saving numerous lives. His actions not only embodied the highest ideals of military service but also inspired his comrades. His courage, determination, and disregard for his own safety were instrumental in the success of the mission.

For his conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, Major Ferguson was awarded the Medal of Honor on May 17, 1969. His legacy is a testament to the bravery and sacrifice of those who serve in the armed forces, and he remains an enduring symbol of heroism.

Listen to Episode 2850 and discover more about Army Army Major Frederick Edgar Ferguson and his Congressional Medal of Honor award.

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Episode 2849 – Medal of Honor tribute to Army Sp4 Donald W. Evans Jr.  

Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient Army Sp4 Donald W. Evans Jr.

Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient Army Sp4 Donald W. Evans Jr.

Congressional Medal of Honor, Vietnam Veteran News, Mack Payne

Congressional Medal of Honor

Episode 2849 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Army Sp4 Donald W. Evans Jr. and his Congressional Medal of Honor award. Information featured in this episode comes from a story that appeared on the This Is Why We Stand website and was titled: This Is Why We Stand: Donald W. Evans Jr.

Donald Ward Evans Jr. (July 23, 1943 – January 27, 1967) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military’s highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Vietnam War.

Evans joined the Army from his birth city of Covina, California, in 1965, and by January 27, 1967, was serving as a specialist four combat medic in Company A, 2d Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division.

On January 27, 1967, Specialist Four Donald Ward Evans Jr. committed himself to action near the hamlet of Tri Tram, Republic of Vietnam. The 23-year-old Army combat medic’s platoon had not yet been committed to battle, but Evans heeded the calls for medical aid from the wounded men of another platoon, which was heavily engaged against an enemy force. Exposing himself to a withering hail of enemy fire and exploding grenades, Evans charged across 100 meters of open area to reach six wounded comrades. In the midst of the danger, he rendered treatment and offered encouragement to the injured. In separate trips, Evans managed to move the two most seriously wounded soldiers to a more secure position where they could be evacuated.

Listen to Episode 2849 and discover more about Army Sp4 Donald W. Evans Jr. and his Congressional Medal of Honor award.

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Episode 2848 – Why Chemical Weapons were used in Vietnam, Part 6

B-52 bomber

B-52s bomber dropping bombs. Photo Credit: United States
Air Force.

Episode 2848 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature the conclusion  of a review of a paper just received about why chemical weapons were used in the Vietnam War. The paper was provided to this podcast by the Merry Band of Retirees. The title of the paper is: Review and Analysis: Evaluation of the Impacts and consequences of Using Agricultural Herbicides as Military Chemical Weapons in Second Indochina.

The paper was submitted by Kenneth R. Olson, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA and David R. Speidel1, USDA Resource Conservationist and Agricultural Consultant with Natural Resource, Conservation Service and Foreign Agricultural Service, Benton, Missouri, USA.

In this episode, the review of the outstanding paper by Olson and Speidell will be concluded.

How dioxin (TCDD) and arsenic ions interact with soil, and groundwater and migrate through the environment when applied as herbicides is important to understand to develop plans to mitigate the harm. This is a complicated science. It is equally important to understand the complex human element of why such a decision can be made to use such hazardous chemicals as a weapon. Understanding this is important to learning better decision processes to avoid future misapplication of new technology

The legacies of the U.S. Vietnam War had impacts far beyond front-line veterans; encompassing civilian and military personnel who manufactured, transported and handled the tactical herbicides–arsenic-based Agent Blue and Agent Orange (and other 2, 4, 5-T herbicides) contaminated with the dioxin TCDD; those who came in contact with contaminated aircraft and other equipment; and the residual effects of these chemicals on southern Vietnam soil and water and the health of people who continue to work these lands for their living.

Listen to episode 2848 and discover more about the historical events that led to our use of chemical weapons in Vietnam.

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Episode 2847 – Why Chemical Weapons were used in Vietnam, Part 5

Monsanto Chemical Plant in Nitro, West Virginia.

Monsanto Chemical Plant in Nitro, West Virginia. Photo Credit: Terry Humphreys. Pinterest. Reprinted with the permission of the Editor of the Open Journal of Soil Science

Episode 2847 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a portion  of a paper just received about why chemical weapons were used in the Vietnam War. The paper was provided to this podcast by the Merry Band of Retirees. The title of the paper is: Review and Analysis: Evaluation of the Impacts and consequences of Using Agricultural Herbicides as Military Chemical Weapons in Second Indochina.

The paper was submitted by Kenneth R. Olson, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA and David R. Speidel1, USDA Resource Conservationist and Agricultural Consultant with Natural Resource, Conservation Service and Foreign Agricultural Service, Benton, Missouri, USA.

In this episode, how the influence of political leaders and journalists affected the decision to use herbicides in Vietnam will be reviewed. It is important to learn as much as we can about events and circumstances that resulted in the use of chemical weapons in the Vietnam War.

For 40 years, our U.S. leaders followed the Truman Doctrine of using American military and economic aid to direct a communist containment policy. This ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Each leader was not necessarily confined to following his predecessor.

President Richard Nixon with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger initiated a more open policy with China, participated in peace talks with North Vietnam to stop the bombing, and after persuasion by scientists rescinded the use of Agent Orange. This reflected a different approach and was the real turning point in the Second Indochina War.

The U.S. government and military policy for a secret operation (in Laos and Cambodia) prevented journalists from observing and questioning the program’s effectiveness, its value to America, and the hazards to innocent villagers and soldiers. Herbicides, originally a boon to agriculture, were made a part of a chemical weapon system program, and became a political tool, with harmful environmental and human health effects

Listen to episode 2847 and discover more about the historical events that led to our use of chemical weapons in Vietnam.

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Episode 2846 – Why Chemical Weapons were used in Vietnam, Part 4

Captured North Vietnamese rice.

Cambodian civilians bag up captured North Vietnamese rice. Photo Credit: William H. Hammond. The U.S. Army. In public domain

Episode 2846 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a portion  of a paper just received about why chemical weapons were used in the Vietnam War. The paper was provided to this podcast by the Merry Band of Retirees. The title of the paper is: Review and Analysis: Evaluation of the Impacts and consequences of Using Agricultural Herbicides as Military Chemical Weapons in Second Indochina.

The paper was submitted by Kenneth R. Olson, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA and David R. Speidel1, USDA Resource Conservationist and Agricultural Consultant with Natural Resource, Conservation Service and Foreign Agricultural Service, Benton, Missouri, USA.

In this episode, the influence of the American military affected the decision to use herbicides in Vietnam will be reviewed. It is important to learn as much as we can about events and circumstances that resulted in the use of chemical weapons in the Vietnam War.

The U.S. Military advisors at the Saigon and Vientiane United States embassies were surely adequately competent to have earned their positions, but their opinion of the enemy’s capability as a low-level foe was telling. This was noted in the literature review more than once. The American military held the Vietnamese Communists as warriors in low esteem and expected they would be easily defeated. It should have been clear to their State Department planning members that their military counterparts had not learned the lessons of the French military experience.

The French defeat at Dien Bien Phu disrupted President Eisenhower’s hopes for Indochina. America had supported the French at Dien Bien Phu with 60 cargo aircraft. Several had been damaged and two Americans had lost their lives. The French had miscalculated

Listen to episode 2846 and discover more about the historical events that led to our use of chemical weapons in Vietnam.

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Episode 2845 – Why Chemical Weapons were used in Vietnam, Part 3

The Hồ Chi Minh Trail

The Hồ Chi Minh Trail through the mountains and jungles of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Reprinted with the permission of the editor of the Open Journal of Soil
Science.

Episode 2845 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a portion  of a paper just received about why chemical weapons were used in the Vietnam War. The paper was provided to this podcast by the Merry Band of Retirees. The title of the paper is: Review and Analysis: Evaluation of the Impacts and consequences of Using Agricultural Herbicides as Military Chemical Weapons in Second Indochina.

The paper was submitted by Kenneth R. Olson, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA and David R. Speidel1, USDA Resource Conservationist and Agricultural Consultant with Natural Resource, Conservation Service and Foreign Agricultural Service, Benton, Missouri, USA.

In this episode, the influence of American ambassadors to Laos and how it affected the decision to use herbicides in Vietnam will be reviewed. It is important to learn as much as we can about events and circumstances that resulted in the use of chemical weapons in the Vietnam War.

Five Ambassadors were assigned to Laos 1960-75. Three, all officers, had WWII combat experience. One received 7 distinguished Flying Crosses and 21 Air Medals. Another was at D-Day and participated in Okinawa invasion. Two Ambassadors went on to higher positions of influence for SE Asia in the Department of State.

The sixth, an Ambassador at Large, W. Averell Harriman, a notable SE Asia policy maker until 1969 had experience back to FDR as Franklin’s Lend-Lease organizer and Ambassador to Moscow.

These men would have not have bothered to try to understand the complicated herbicide formulation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) with unknown amounts of dioxin TCDD.However, their beliefs and opinions did influence senior policy makers.

Listen to episode 2845 and discover more about the historical events that led to our use of chemical weapons in Vietnam.

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Episode 2844 – Why Chemical Weapons were used in Vietnam, Part 2

President John F. Kennedy

President John F. Kennedy

Episode 2844 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a paper just received about why chemical weapons were used in the Vietnam War. The paper was provided to this podcast by the Merry Band of Retirees. The title of the paper is: Review and Analysis: Evaluation of the Impacts and consequences of Using Agricultural Herbicides as Military Chemical Weapons in Second Indochina.

The paper was submitted by Kenneth R. Olson, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA and David R. Speidel1, USDA Resource Conservationist and Agricultural Consultant with Natural Resource, Conservation Service and Foreign Agricultural Service, Benton, Missouri, USA.

In this episode, the historical events that led to our use of herbicides in Vietnam will be reviewed. It is important to learn as much as we can about events and circumstances that resulted in the use of chemical weapons in the Vietnam War.

The objective of the treatise reviewed in this podcast episode is to outline the role of world events, the use of defoliant herbicides in Vietnam and adjacent countries, the backgrounds and diverse visions of leaders of the U.S. military, CIA, USDA, U.S. State Department, the President appointed Ambassadors to Vietnam and Laos, chemical companies and President Diệm’s RVN government and military.

During this critical stage in deciding whether to use the new chemical weapon system, herbicides to defoliate cover and destroy food production combined with bombing and/or ground attacks), a process to ensure the best outcome in policy selection was needed.

Instead, the inner circle advisor approach used by President Kennedy to develop policy can also be viewed as destabilizing the normal internal government organization structures.

Listen to episode 2844 and discover more about the historical events that led to our use of chemical weapons in Vietnam.

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Episode 2843 – Why Chemical Weapons were used in Vietnam, Part I

Chemical warfare in Vietnam.

Chemical warfare in Vietnam.

Episode 2843 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a paper just received about why chemical weapons were used in the Vietnam War. The paper was provided to this podcast by the Merry Band of Retirees. The title of the paper is: Review and Analysis: Evaluation of the Impacts and consequences of Using Agricultural Herbicides as Military Chemical Weapons in Second Indochina.

The paper was submitted by Kenneth R. Olson, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA and David R. Speidel1, USDA Resource Conservationist and Agricultural Consultant with Natural Resource, Conservation Service and Foreign Agricultural Service, Benton, Missouri, USA.

 This episode will be an introduction to the paper. It is important to learn as much as we can about events and circumstances that resulted in the use of chemical weapons in the Vietnam War.

The writers states this in his article abstract: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Purple and Agent Orange contaminated with unknown amounts of dioxin TCDD and Agent Blue, the arsenic-based herbicide, sprayed over the jungles, rice fields, and hamlets of Vietnam is still haunting us today. Why did this happen?

Could it have been prevented? Was it necessary United States military strategy? Was it an intentional decision to inflict this blight on the enemy soldiers and the Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian civilians, to poison their land and cause generations of harm?

Were the National interests achieved by U.S. military strategy in the RVN using herbicide weapons worth the long-term environmental and human health consequences in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos? Did it impact the outcome of the Second Indochina War?

Listen to episode 2843 and discover more about why chemical weapons were used in Vietnam.

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Episode 2842 – Medal of Honor tribute to Navy Captain Michael J. Estocin

Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient Navy Captain Michael J. Estocin

Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient Navy Captain Michael J. Estocin

Congressional Medal of Honor, Vietnam Veteran News, Mack Payne

Congressional Medal of Honor

Episode 2842 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Navy Captain Michael J. Estocin his Congressional Medal of Honor award. Information featured in this episode comes from a story that appeared on the Veterans Breakfast Club website and was titled: Remembering Vietnam A-4 Skyhawk Pilot and Medal of Honor Recipient, Michael Estocin. It written by Bob Bukk. It is an excerpt from his work-in-progress, “Encounters: The people I’ve met along the way.”

Captain Michael J. Estocin was a distinguished U.S. Navy pilot and a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism during the Vietnam War. Born on April 27, 1931, in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, Estocin pursued a career in naval aviation, ultimately becoming a seasoned pilot.

In April 1967, during Operation Rolling Thunder, Estocin demonstrated unparalleled bravery and dedication. As a pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 192 (VA-192) aboard the USS Ticonderoga, Estocin undertook two critical missions over North Vietnam on April 20 and April 26. Despite intense enemy fire, he delivered precision air strikes against heavily defended targets, showing unwavering commitment to his mission.

On April 26, during his second mission, Estocin’s A-4 Skyhawk was hit by enemy missiles. Despite severe damage to his aircraft, he continued to press the attack, ensuring the success of his mission. Tragically, his plane was critically damaged, and Estocin was unable to eject, leading to his loss.

Captain Estocin was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty. His legacy of valor and sacrifice is remembered as an enduring example of the courage and dedication exhibited by the U.S. armed forces during the Vietnam War.

Listen to Episode 2842 and discover more about Navy Captain Michael J. Estocin and his Congressional Medal of Honor award.

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Episode 2841 – Medal of Honor tribute to Army SGT Santiago J. Erevia    

Vietnam War Medal of honor recipient Army Sergeant Santiago.

Vietnam War Medal of honor recipient Army Sergeant Santiago.

Congressional Medal of Honor, Vietnam Veteran News, Mack Payne

Congressional Medal of Honor

Episode 2841 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Army SGT Santiago J. Ereviaand his Congressional Medal of Honor award. Information featured in this episode comes from stories that appeared on the National Museum United States Army and the VA News websites.

Army Sergeant Santiago J. Erevia, a dedicated soldier from San Antonio, Texas, stood on the edge of a fierce battle in the jungles of Vietnam in 1969. As part of the 101st Airborne Division, Erevia and his squad found themselves under heavy fire during a mission to rescue a wounded platoon member. With bullets whizzing by and the enemy closing in, Erevia’s courage and determination would soon become legendary.

Spotting four enemy bunkers threatening his comrades, Erevia took swift action. Armed with only an M16 rifle and a few grenades, he advanced towards the enemy positions with unwavering resolve. He single-handedly assaulted the first bunker, neutralizing the threat with a well-placed grenade. Without hesitation, he continued his assault, taking out the second and third bunkers in a similar fashion. His bravery inspired his fellow soldiers, who rallied behind him.

Despite sustaining injuries, Erevia pressed on. He reached the fourth bunker and unleashed a final barrage, silencing the enemy guns and saving countless lives. His selfless actions turned the tide of the battle, and his comrades would never forget the fearless soldier who fought to protect them.

Decades later, in 2014, Santiago J. Erevia was awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism. The nation recognized the quiet hero who, on that fateful day, embodied the highest ideals of courage and sacrifice, ensuring that his legacy would live on in the annals of American military history.

Listen to Episode 2841 and discover more about Army SGT Santiago J. Erevia and his Congressional Medal of Honor award.

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