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From: Terry Daluge
Date: 30 Jun 2006
Time: 13:11:55
Remote Name: 71.123.128.56
if you do nothing else you need to write your elected officals.make them get off thire rears this is just a sample of one letter I wrote to all texas officals large and small I hope they get sick of hearing me cause I wont To Whom It May Concern: My Name is Terry Daluge I am a 52-year-old male and a Vietnam veteran that has been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, Osteo Arthritis, Asthma, Gout, PTSD, Depression and many other ailments. I am no longer able to work, because I can not stand, sit or walk for long periods of time. I am in pain most of the time. It is very hard for me to breathe. I get out of breath very easily, just walking to my backyard I have to rest. When I was 18 years old my Country gave a call to arms we were at war with the Republic of Vietnam at that time I did not know why or did I care. My great country needed me and I took the call with honor. I did not wait to be drafted. I believed they needed me now. So August 22, 1972 I enlisted into the U.S. Navy and proud to do so. My first duty was aboard the U.S. Theodore E. Chandler DD 717. We headed for West-Pac Vietnam bound. I remember how proud I was to figth for my Country. We cruised the Tonkin Gulf for 8 mos. We gave lots of gun support. I was a Mess Management Specialist. Some of my duties were shining the ship’s bell and control over the spud (potato) locker. It was located on the Asroc deck. On the way over to Vietnam it was very easy to shine the ship’s bell and shine it I did. We had arrived! This was it. I planned to defend my country with my life if that is what it took. I was 18 and proud. I remember very clearly after a time there was a thin, oily film over the entire ship and in the water around the ship. The ship’s bell felt like there was a coating of smelly oil on it. The bell was very hard to clean this oil off. I used every solution I could think of to clean the bell. I went to the Boatsons locker they gave me a degreaser it worked but not very good. Then one day, I went to retrieve potatoes out of the spud locker. We had just received ship’s stores, so it was full. A full stock was about 350 pounds. All the potatoes were rotten every single one. I had to clean them out and trust me you don’t forget something like that they were fresh just a week prior. The potatoes had the same oily film on them that the ship’s bell had on it. We asked what it was and the officers said it was Agent Orange. They were using it on land to get rid of foliage that is why the potatoes became rotten. At the same time the Filipino ship Stewarts (officer cooks) were getting up early in the morning to collect the flying fish that jumped on board the ship. They were told they had to throw them overboard. The fish were not safe to eat. All that time I thought nothing about it and no one else did either. No one told me to get proof. I was in the care of the U.S. Navy. They would do anything in their power to keep me safe, so I thought. I made a claim when I found out I had Diabetes. They told me, since I was in the Navy that I was not eligible. We did not port in Vietnam. Agent Orange did not go out to sea there is just one problem no one told that to the Agent Orange. Any one with a brain knows what happens to chemicals when you spray it on land it runs off in to the streams and rivers then to the sea. It was there. I was there. We cleaned it off the ship no one told me at that time that I would need proof. At this point in my life through my eyes, my life is over. I’am loosing my house. I only have Social Security. When I was working I made $1000.00 a week now I only get that a month. Who would had thought 32 years later my Great Country would be telling me that poverty is all I have to look forward to. We cannot help you. Does my quality of life now not matter? I see all the new programs we have for all our “new” citizens, & illegal aliens. but nothing for our Blue Water Navy Veterans. In other words our country is telling us to bad for you! go away we don’t want to see what we have done to our veterans we just want to forget you. I should have known something was wrong when my country gave the draft dodgers that went to Canada; amnesty from President Ford and gave them civil service Jobs, & welcoming them back. while everyone was calling me a murderer and a baby killer. They demoralized me, because I was Vietnam veteran. For about 9 months, I was unable to find a job, because of my Vietnam veteran status. It was suggested by someone not to put down that I served in Vietnam. Ironically, I was hired for the very next job. Coincidence, I think not! Now I am dealing with this. What am I to think about this Great Country now! You have taken away my self-worth and will to survive Recently the Australian Government approved disorders caused from Agent Orange for their blue water Navy. Now don’t you think it is time for the DOD and the Department of Veterans Affair comes clean with the truth about Agent Orange? They have the findings and the facts they know the blue Water Sailors were contaminated. It was in the water we drank it showered in it washed our close in it. I ask you to stand up for the men and women of the US Navy and do the right thing. We are dieing and suffering from Agent Orange diseases and our country is turning their backs on us again. When will the Department of Veterans Affairs stop the lies and degrading of the US Navy.Damit we served also give us the same treatment they are giving other Veterans. Sincerely, Terry L. Daluge daluge@verizon.net