ABSTRACT
This chapter recounts the early days of the Agent Orange controversy, Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation (WMF). A small number of disability claims filed by Vietnam veterans in 1978 produced a ruckus within the Veterans Administration (VA). Between 1965 and 1971, United States armed forces in Vietnam had sprayed approximately eleven million gallons of an herbicide called Agent Orange. In April of 1964, Ranch Hand became a permanent organization rather than a temporary duty assignment. Ideally suited for guerilla warfare, the dense jungles and forests of South Vietnam allowed communist troops to fight when they had the advantage and hide when they did not. Farmers and ranchers, the forestry industry, and government agencies had used phenoxy herbicides containing 2,4,5-T in the United States since the 1950s.
