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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>From a Letter to the Editor in <STRONG>West Hawaii
Today: (March 12, 2007)</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> My former husband recently passed away after
losing a 40-year-long battle against the effects of the Vietnam
War.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Mike suffered from Non-Hodgkins
lymphoma, which physically weakened him, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and
acute alcoholism that mentally crippled him. The former caused him to
finally be unable to wield the framers hammer that had always provided his
living. The latter made it impossible for him to be in the company of the
family that he loved.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Towards the end of his life Mike
finally sought the help of the Veteran's Administration. This was the act
of a desperate man as he'd always said that he never wanted another thing from
the U S Government. The long lines and endless paperwork were more than he
could tolerate and he died alone at a campsite in the snow.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I traveled to Oregon with our grown children
to take care of Mike's funeral arrangements. He wanted to be scattered on
"his" mountain.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> The one thig that he had counted on
the government to do for him was denied. The Veteran's Administration will
not cremate one of their own unless they are receiving monetary benefits, are an
officer, or if the veteran actually dies in one of their hospitals. Mike
would have received benefits if he could have held on for another six months and
his claim had been settled. It would have been settled in his favor
because his type of lymphoma is a direct result of the Agent Orange he had been
showered with at age 18.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Shame on the United States government.
It killed this man twice--once in Vietnam and again on a lonely, snowy
mountain.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> While the veterans did not bury Mike, they
did provide his son with a full-sized United States flag. A flag of
loosely woven fabric and labeled with a large "MADE IN CHINA" tag. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Lisa Angelo Wyrick</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Kailua-Kona</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
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