Vietnam Veteran News

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Dieu Ly Hoang, left and Kien Nghi Ha, right, hail from different Vietnamese backgrounds and today live in the same Berlin neighbourhood [Giulio Ferracuti/Al Jazeera]

Episode 3061 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the Vietnamese Diaspora in Germany. The featured story is titled: ‘We are all Vietnamese and came to Germany to build a better life’ and it appeared in Aljazeera. It was submitted by Gouri Sharma. She is a freelance journalist based in Berlin. Previously, she spent five years working on the production desk for Al Jazeera‘s media critique show, the Listening Post.

In her story, Sharma reported that an estimated 35,000 refugees arrived in West Germany in 1979, while 70,000 contract workers began to arrive in the GDR in 1980. The fractures in Vietnam mirrored divisions in Germany, with North Vietnam backed by the USSR-aligned East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and the capitalist West Germany supporting South Vietnam.

Within months of the war’s end in 1975, Vietnam established diplomatic relations with the GDR(communist East Germany), paving a different kind of path for Northern North Vietnamese immigrants to fly overseas a few years later to the communist paradise in East Germany.

“In the GDR, people were proud to show international solidarity, and this went hand in hand with hatred of the capitalist West, while the West German government saw the Vietnam War as part of the global struggle against communism,” explained German historian Andreas Margara.

On April 30, Vietnam marked 50 years since the end of the war. For the large Vietnamese-German diaspora, who arrived as refugees and contract workers, this year’s milestones have stirred a sense of reflection.

Today most Vietnamese in Germany feel that “Even though Vietnam has been damaged a lot, we are all Vietnamese and came to Germany to build a better life for ourselves.”

Listen to Episode 3061 and discover more about the Vietnamese Diaspora in Germany.

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Episode 3060 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple 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?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3060 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises.

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Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3059 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple 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?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3059 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3056 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple 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?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3058 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3056 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple 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?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3057 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3056 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple 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?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3056 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3055 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor Olson is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple 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?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3055 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Professor Kenneth R. Olson, leader of the Merry Band of Retirees.

Episode 3054 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Part 1 of a report about the the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War. The report is titled: Review and Analysis: Fate of Agent Orange and Agent Purple, Contaminated with Dioxin TCDD, Used to Defoliate the Jungle During the Second Indochina and Vietnam Wars and was created by the Merry Band of Retirees headed up by Professor Kenneth R. Olson.

Professor is with the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana, USA, krolson@illinois.edu.

The purpose of sharing this final report by the Merry Band of Retirees is to close the book on this sorry episode of the Vietnam War where decisions were made to use agricultural herbicides as weapons in the War. The hopes engendered by the use of the herbicides went unfilled.

The abstract of the paper begins with this statement: The legacy of the human misery caused by the application of the herbicides including Agent Orange and Agent Purple 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?

Alternatively, was it an unpreventable accident in the march of military history? What patterns in the U.S. government’s thought process could be identified as the cause which led to the decision to use these agricultural herbicides as tactical chemical weapons?

Listen to Episode 3054 and discover more about the U.S. Biological warfare used in the Vietnam War and the questions it still raises…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Vietnam Veteran Ken Lyons hopes to go on an Honor Flight after serving his country for many years in different branches of the government. [Photo by W. Turrell]

Episode 3053 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the service of Vietnam Vet Ken Lyons of Richfield, Ohio. The featured story appeared on the Script Type Publishing Website and was titled: Local Veteran models a life of service. The story was submitted by Wendy Turrell.

ScripType Publishing has been bringing community news to people in Northeast Ohio since their first issue of the Richfield Times was published in 1980. It serves the communities by writing about and for the people of the communities. Their best compliment is that often readers refer to a ScripType magazine as “Our Magazine.” They feel comfortable with and trust in what they read.

Writer Wendy Turrell reported that at this time of year, when we have just recognized our veterans at Memorial Day and look forward to celebrating the Fourth of July, Richfield veteran Ken Lyons is thrice deserving of our gratitude.

Lyons served in the U.S. Marine Corps right out of high school, from July 1962-66. He then joined the U.S. Air Force as a staff sergeant during the Vietnam War from April 1968 to 1973, specializing in computer technology. Upon his discharge from the Air Force, Lyons joined the Army Reserves and served until retiring in 2004.

Lyons said his duty in Vietnam was to remotely guide Air Force pilots via radar tracking so that they could accurately and safely drop bombs on battlefield targets. He accomplished this from a base across the border in Thailand.

Lyons comes from a tradition of service to his country. His father died during a battle in World War II, when Lyons was a newborn. Although he never knew him, Lyons was able to travel overseas for an emotional visit to his father’s grave on a trip sponsored by the U.S. Battle Monuments Office to celebrate the 55thanniversary of D-Day in 1999. He was accompanied on the trip by many of the men who had served with his father’s unit.

Listen to Episode 3053 and discover more about the service of Vietnam Vet Ken Lyons of Richfield, Ohio.

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Fallen Vietnam Vet Fred D. Larson

Episode 3052 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the bridge dedication in South Dakota honoring fallen Vietnam Veteran Fred D. Larson. The featured story appeared on KXLG of Pollock, South Dakota. It was submitted by Steve Jurrens.

It was reported that The South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs will host a State Bridge Dedication Ceremony on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at 2:30 p.m. CT, to honor U.S. Army Private First-Class Fred D. Larson, a local hero who was killed in action during the Vietnam War. The ceremony will take place at the Pollock Community Center, located at 916 F. Avenue.

The SD10 bridge over Lake Pocasse, situated just east of Pollock, will be officially dedicated as the PFC Fred D. Larson Bridge. This dedication is part of the Fallen Heroes Bridge Dedication Program, a statewide initiative launched during the Noem-Rhoden Administration and expanded under Governor Rhoden. The program, a cooperative effort between the South Dakota Departments of Military, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs, aims to create lasting tributes that connect communities to their history and remind future generations of the sacrifices made for freedom.

PFC Fred D. Larson was born in Pollock on June 22, 1949. He was drafted into the U.S. Army on August 19, 1969, and deployed to Vietnam on January 15, 1970, serving with the 6th Battalion, 11th Artillery, C Battery. Tragically, on April 24, 1970, which was also his mother’s 55th birthday, PFC Larson was killed in action near Lang Dong Ban in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. He bravely volunteered to search a suspected enemy dwelling and triggered a land mine.

“It is an honor to recognize the brave men and women who gave their lives for our freedom,” stated Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jeremiah Schneider. “The Fallen Hero Bridge Dedication program ensures their sacrifice is remembered every day. These dedications serve as lasting symbols of gratitude and respect, connecting our communities to the legacy of those who served.”

Listen to Episode 3052 and discover more about the bridge dedication in South Dakota honoring fallen Vietnam Veteran Fred D. Larson.