‘It’s a relief’: Planned Agent Orange memorial finds home in Sunset Veterans Park
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- With veterans looking on, students from the Utah Military Academy post the colors during the Under the Sun Car Show at Sunset’s Rachael Runyan Memorial Park on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025.
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- Representatives of the Utah Agent Orange Veterans Foundation pose beside a memorial mockup during the 2025 Under the Sun Car Show at Sunset’s Rachael Runyan Memorial Park on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025.
SUNSET — Veterans Park has been chosen as the site for a new memorial marker, the culmination of a Davis County nonprofit’s longstanding effort to honor the hundreds of thousands of Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange and other veterans harmed by toxic materials while serving in the military.
During a ceremony at the Under the Sun Car Show at Rachael Runyan Memorial Park on Saturday, Sunset Mayor Scott Wiggill announced that the Utah Agent Orange Veterans Foundation, or UAOVF — a 501(c)(3) nonprofit co-founded by Syracuse resident and veteran Larry Kerr — will construct its planned Agent Orange monument at Veterans Park.
“I’ve seen the statistics and I’ve seen all the things. They’ve discussed where they were going to put the memorial for quite some time and so I am absolutely honored and proud that they selected Sunset City’s park,” Wiggill said.
Agent Orange was a compound used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War to clear vegetation and eradicate enemy food supply as part of a multiyear initiative dubbed “Operation Ranch Hand.” It contained dangerous chemicals, including 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, or TCDD, a substance later determined to be a carcinogen.
The U.S. Air Force sprayed 19 million gallons of herbicides over roughly 3.6 million acres of South Vietnam from 1962 to 1971, 11 million gallons of which were Agent Orange. Similar herbicides were also dropped over Thailand, the Korean Demilitarized Zone and elsewhere.
More than 300,000 U.S. veterans and over 400,000 Vietnamese people have died as a result of exposure to Agent Orange, according to literature from the Cleveland Clinic.
While his own personal experience with Agent Orange and that of his fellow Vietnam veterans inspired the push to build a memorial, Kerr told the Standard-Examiner that the marker will also honor veterans of the Gulf War who have suffered and died as a result of exposure to open burn pits.
“We’re going to change a little bit on the memorial to pay more attention to the Persian Gulf veterans,” Kerr said. “On the stand, there will be a list of all the diseases that Vietnam veterans are associated with, and also the Gulf War veterans. So, if a widow comes or a child of a veteran comes, they’ll be able to see what type of diseases the VA is compensating for.”
The nonprofit had sought to erect a monument near the Vietnam Memorial Wall replica at Layton Commons Park. But conversations with the city’s mayor and parks department, as well as a presentation given to its City Council, ultimately did not result in the city designating a space for the memorial, which Kerr said will be the first of its kind in Utah and one of the largest Agent Orange memorials nationwide.
The response from Sunset was markedly more enthusiastic, per Kerr, who said city officials discussed and came to a decision on the memorial’s placement on the same day UAOVF was contacted about the opportunity. And while there’s still work to be done, Kerr is resting easy knowing that the marker has finally found a home.
“It’s a relief,” Kerr said. “We’re not done yet. I’m still fighting on some fronts. But it’s a very good peace of mind. If I pass away, my crew is going to get it done, and my kids and grandkids can come and see that. And all these veterans can come.”
UAOVF has raised significant funds and begun acquiring materials for the monument, which Kerr hopes to see dedicated by Veterans Day in November. However, the organization is still seeking donations to fully fund the marker’s construction and placement. To donate, go to https://www.agentorangeheroes.org/.
