Davis County foundation seeks to honor veterans exposed to Agent Orange
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- A mockup of a planned memorial to be constructed by the Utah Agent Orange Veterans Foundation.
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- A mockup of a planned memorial to be constructed by the Utah Agent Orange Veterans Foundation.
LAYTON — A Davis County nonprofit seeks to create a memorial for Vietnam War veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange, a chemical herbicide and defoliant used during the conflict that has been associated with several forms of cancer, numerous other health conditions and premature death.
The Utah Agent Orange Veterans Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit co-founded by Syracuse resident and veteran Larry Kerr, 77, aims to honor those affected by Agent Orange exposure both during and after the war. The group hopes to install a dedicated memorial at Layton Commons Park, near the site’s Vietnam Memorial Wall replica.
For Kerr, who served in the United States Air Force from 1965 to 1985, the impact of Agent Orange is evidenced on a daily basis.
“I just went through throat cancer from Agent Orange,” Kerr told the Standard-Examiner. “It’s my third go-around with different things from Agent Orange. It’s the gift that keeps on giving and has been passed down to our children and grandchildren even.”
Agent Orange was used by the U.S. Military throughout the Vietnam War to clear jungles and eradicate enemy food supply as part of a multiyear operation called “Operation Ranch Hand.” It contained dangerous chemicals, including 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, or TCDD, now a known carcinogen.
Kerr joined the Air Force at the age of 17 and specialized in chemical weapons. He was exposed to Agent Orange over a period of four years.
“My brother was a marine, and he threatened to beat my butt if I joined the Marines. … He didn’t want to see me go through that,” Kerr recalled.
In the end, though, his time with the Air Force took its toll. In 1980, Kerr had a heart attack at the age of 32; he has also had an organ removed and his cancer battle has been continuous.
Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. Air Force sprayed approximately 19 million gallons of herbicides over roughly 3.6 million acres in South Vietnam, 11 million gallons of which were Agent Orange. Such herbicides were also used in places like Thailand and the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
“We estimate by talking to other veterans and different doctors, different people, that there’s 750,000 of us who have already died from these chemicals,” Kerr said, noting that many died before the effects of exposure were recognized or related healthcare became available.
“Personally, I’ve had two here in Utah that could not get treatment,” Kerr said. “One was in Iraq around the burn pits, and he committed suicide because of that. Another Vietnam veteran friend of mine got his terminal diagnosis, and he committed suicide. It’s having a terrible effect on all the veterans that are remaining, the ones that go through this and the families that really, really suffer from it.”
Despite all he has gone through, Kerr says he has no regrets about his service, citing his wife and two children, fruitful career and the fact that he’s still “above ground and functioning.” He has an important mission, too, having worked for the last year to see those impacted by Agent Orange formally recognized alongside the more than 58,000 names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
To that end, he says the foundation has purchased an eight by ten-foot sandstone segment and two pieces of granite that are four-inches thick to be used for memorial construction. He estimates that another $10,000 will be required to complete and place the memorial. The goal, he says, is to dedicate a new, Agent Orange memorial by Veterans Day in November.
There will be a Utah Agent Orange Veterans Foundation booth at the Sounds of Freedom Car Show at Layton Commons Park, taking place on Saturday, June 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The group will be accepting donations and also selling t-shirts and other items to raise funds for the memorial construction.
For more information, or to donate, go to https://www.agentorangeheroes.org/.
