Mr. Chairmen and Members of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, I am pleased to be here today to testify on behalf of Gold Star Wives on the health effects of the Vietnam War and its aftermath for our nation’s surviving spouses.  My name is Vivianne Wersel, Chair of the Gold Star Wives’ Government Relations Committee.  I am the widow of Lt. Col. Richard Wersel, Jr., USMC, who died suddenly on February 4, 2005, one week after returning from his second tour of duty in Iraq.  I am also the daughter of Colonel Philip C. Cisneros, USMC (Retired) who fought in the Chosin Reservoir in Korea and served three tours of duty in Vietnam.

Gold Star Wives of America, Incorporated (GSW), founded in 1945, is a Congressionally Chartered organization of spouses of military members who died while serving on active duty or as a result of a service-connected disability.  GSW is an all-volunteer organization.  We could begin with no better advocate than Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, at the time newly widowed, who helped make Gold Star Wives a truly “national” organization.  Mrs. Roosevelt was an original signer of our Certificate of Incorporation as a member of our Board of Directors.  Our current members are widows and widowers of military members who served during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the conflicts in both Iraq and Afghanistan and every period in between

I will start with our primary message to you today—nearly forty years since the last American service members left Vietnam we are still dealing with the repercussions. We cannot forget the importance of communication to the impacted community, including the surviving spouses of that era. 

There is no question of the magnitude of the problem that this nation must continue to face.  For nearly 20 years, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has provided disability benefits to Vietnam veterans who suffer from certain illnesses causally linked to Agent Orange exposure. With the addition of two new and one expanded Agent Orange presumptive diseases, the VA will be automatically awarding disabilities for fourteen different conditions. We are heartened by the restarting of the National Vietnam Veterans Longitudinal Study as it is very clear that our knowledge is not yet complete on the long-term health consequences of those who served in the Vietnam War.   For over 2.1 million current Vietnam veterans, this has been a long and often arduous road.  I can’t help but think that what we learn here will lead us to better care for all of America’s veterans, their families and survivors, including those engaged in the current wars/conflicts. 

A common theme that the membership of Gold Star Wives encounters, whether from the new, young surviving spouses of the current wars or those survivors from earlier conflicts, is the lack of information—the lack of the government reaching out to them to alert them to changes in benefits and compensation that they may be eligible to receive. Many were never informed of their benefits initially and many still are not aware of their benefits.  So while it is wonderful for the scientific community to gain these valuable insights, the next crucial step is to assure that those who have been harmed as a result of exposure to harsh chemicals, can adequately understand what they must do to improve the quality of their health and lives to the extent that that can occur. VA outreach to survivors must be drastically improved. 

A widow in Florida has an adult son with spina bifida. Her son is relatively independent yet he still needs care.  Since the loss of her husband, the widow now bears the full burden of caring for her adult son.

For many years caregivers provided for their spouses who were less than 100% disabled  and these widows were not eligible for DIC when their spouses died. The caregiver’s quality of life was compromised as well as their own health. The many spouses who cared for these dedicated service members were forgotten.   Many spent their life savings for medical expenses.  Spouses were forced to give up careers because their disabled husbands needed ongoing care.  These families have survived after their husband’s death however the pain of their experience is still vivid.  Therefore it is important to further investigate the results of the affects of the deadly toxins used in Vietnam as well as to identify the service members, their spouses or surviving spouses. Not everyone has a connection with the military or the VA. 

My uncle served his country and died of ALS in January 2005.  My aunt was not married to him during his military service and was unaware of the change in the VA policy to include ALS as a presumptive disability.  This benefit made a difference to her quality of life yet she never would have known if I had not made a point of sharing this information.  We are certain that there are many other surviving spouses who have yet to be identified as beneficiaries.  We as a grateful nation have an ethical role to reach out to better identify those veterans and survivors who qualify for compensation.

We do not want new members in our organization because of the requirement for entry—the loss of a loved one—but we are protective of those who eventually will join us, as well as for those surviving spouses who suffered right along with the veteran during these last forty years. They need to be given some peace of mind about why life was so radically different for so long after their spouse returned from Vietnam whether it was PTSD or bearing a child with a neural tube defect or sadder yet left barren.

We don’t yet know how many generations will be affected by Agent Orange.  The children and grandchildren of Vietnam veterans are suffering the after-effects.   The results of the longitudinal study should reveal the adverse effects for future generations.  We have concerns for the veterans and their survivors who were never in the VA system, but became ill and died.  Many veterans may have died years ago of conditions just now being recognized as caused by Agent Orange.  How are we going to locate and notify those survivors? Who takes this lead? The VA must take the lead in outreach to these service members and survivors. In concert with Veterans, Military and survivor organizations, many more deserving and qualified beneficiaries must be found.

Service to this nation deserves life-long respect and care, certainly to the veteran, but to the veteran’s family as well, even when that veteran is no longer alive.  Not only did returning Vietnam veterans  experience adverse encounters with an ungrateful nation, but they also had to return to an uncaring government that sent them to war, perhaps even against their will because of the draft.  The Vietnam veteran did battle for our country and now has to do battle with VA bureaucracy and rules to obtain the benefits he deserves and has more than earned.  In many instances, the surviving spouse must continue to fight for the benefits the veteran earned. It is our responsibility as a nation to honor those veterans and their survivors. 

Please continue with the longitudinal study, look at all independent variables, including interviewing the deceased spouses.  Simply stated by one of our members, “I just pray that no one else has to go through what Les went through, a very tortured, painful, long, anguished death.  After his death I was burdened with medical bills, exhaustion, and a ruined career that I am still trying to repair.”   Results of the present longitudinal study may reveal new presumptive illnesses that not only affect the service members but many generations thereafter.    

In 1862 during the battle of Antietam, 23,000 men were killed in one day, which was the bloodiest single-day battle in our country’s military history.  In retrospect, the Vietnam War was the war whose casualties lingered over the longest period of time; it’s the war that keeps on ticking.  The VA needs to identify these late onset casualties to help minimize the suffering these families endure financially, emotionally and physically.  Look deep in the histories of those who have died as well as their families. 

We hope that the restart of the National Vietnam Veterans Longitudinal Study will continue to reveal data and information crucial to the optimal well being of our service members and their families. It is imperative that a more aggressive outreach is implemented to identify veterans, spouses and survivors concerning any new presumptive illnesses developed as a result of this study.

No one said it more eloquently than President Lincoln in his second inaugural address: 

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see right, let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds,  to care for him who has borne the battle, his widow and his orphan.”                    

 Thank you for this opportunity to testify.  I will be elated to answer any questions you have.