Was Agent Orange used in Diego Garcia

[Seabee]

I hope I am not opening a can of worms here, but being an honest and forthright person that I believe I am, I thought

I would put this out in the forum.

We all heard about the dangerous herbicide Agent Orange that was used in Viet Nam up till 1971. Many of our V/N veterans suffered horribly from their exposure to A/O. We lost many good people and continue to do so. Due to the amount space this could take , I am going to jump to where i will start at below.

I was stationed with a Saebee battailion NMCB5 and arrived at Diego Garcia early September of 1975 and was to complete a nine month deployment. Diego Garcia Is A horse shoe shaped island with a huge lagoon and an opening at the north end of the lagoon. The island is located roughly 2,000 south of India in the middle of the lndian Ocean, also a meer 2 or 300 miles south of the Equator. Yes mom,, the water flows in a different when you flush the toilet.:

Up until 1970 DG was mainly a coconut plantation with many families working the lush coconut and jungle covered island. The plantation was mainly on the eastern part of the island complete with; a small school and hospital. Diego Garcia is part of a territory of the Indian Ocean named as the British Indian Ocean Territory, which is why it is often referred to as Diego Garcia (BIOT).

It was sometime in the late 1960's that the United State decided that they wanted a permanent pressence in that part of the world. After, discussions with Great Britain the U.S. took control of DG with the eyes of Great Britain in the back ground looking. That's why I couldn't knock down any coconut trees with my rough terrain forklift.

Here is the issue I am having. When the U.S took over DG, they had to remove the native population. All of the population of the island were moved to near by islands and even parts of mainland Asia. I understand that many were not happy about forceably having to leave their loving island. The next that had to happen before any building could take was to clear the land of the jungle growth and trees. About the time the island was ready to be cleared, the US was ready to discontinue use of Agent Orange in Viet Nam.

So in 1970, the US went in to clear land for a large airport in which they were starting with a 3,000 foot runway. Then there was land to clear for oil storage tanks and all other things to build up a small base. Eventually, the island would be the main supply line for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. My question is, does anyone know what was used to clear DG before the Seabee's landed in 1970-71? It was rumored that the US was in a fast forward mode to get the going as fast as possible. It is unclear to me how the US disposed of Agent Orange when its time was done in Viet Nam. To my knowledge, the US has never admitted how the A/O was disposed of or even if it was used in D/G.

Now let's fast forward to late August 1975. I remember how long it took to fly to this far away place from Port Hueneme, California. When I got off the plane after nearly a 12,000 mile flight, I remember having to squint my eyes from the bright sun as I got my first look at the lay off the land from to opening of the plan door. It was bright, okay maybe it was very bright and the white coral and white coral sand did not help much, but there was thing I couldn't help but notice. It was frigging hot as hell and for as far as I could see the land was bright white and barren. I could see an ocassional coconut tree slanting toward the bright blue sky. Yes, I was standing on the edge of a runway, but the land was flat, and I could hear the crashing of ocean waves not far off.

My job for the next 9 months, I assigned to work at the MLO office and yard. MLO stood for Material Liaison Office. It was here were most all of the construction material passed through for all the projects on the base. There were millions of dollars worth of material here on this five acre site not to mention the large building. We housed everything from nails and pipe fitting to the large HVCA units. Even though my Navy rank was a BU (Builder) 3rd Class, I worked as a Material Delivery Coordinator.It was my job to ensure all Project officers got their material on a timely basis to keep the Navy Department on schedule. I was also responsible to inventory the whole warehouse from time to time with the help of other guys in MLO.

Every now and then I would take my lunch break out the back door of the MLO building with my buddy Roger. We had a broken picnic table next to the beach in which we would sit under the shade. Next to the table was a conicks box that was always locked. Roger and I were the only one's allowed to go into the box to inventory the goods inside. Before I even went inside for the first time, I knew there was something rotten in it by the way it smelled outside. The conicks box was rusted near the bottom with a fowl reddish orange liquid could be seen leaking from it. None the less we all continued to take a break at the table next to the box. When Roger and I went to inventory the box for the first time I was almost knocked off my feet by the obknockish order inside. There were barrels with an orange stripe on them. Some were even leaking and rusted on the tops. The only markings were words Dioxen, which didn't tell us much. We did know that the barrels contained an agent that killed vegitation. We were told nothing about the contents by the Navy officer in charge other than just to say keep it locked.

For the better part of this year of 2012 I have been Ill with nagging health issues of which no on else in my family seems to have. The latest problem I have come down with is rapidly spreading skin cancer. It seems that most of my problems with my health are considered side effects of Agent Orange. It has kept me off of my feet most of this year and just three weeks ago my private Dr. Asked me if I was ever exposed to A/O. I was floor to say the least but not surprised.:

I suspect that very much so that Agent Orange was used in Diego Garcia as a convienent way for the US to dispose of its remaining inventory in Viet Nam. The rest of it was laid to rest in the mlo yard where it came into contact with very few people. As a side note Roger has some of the same health problems I have. I am hopeful that someone out there has some concrete proof that A/O was used on the island. Please respond here or send a private email.

Thanks

Dave

[umbertino]

Sounds terrible and I'm very sorry to learn about all this, Seabee....

I'm also sorry that DG inhabitants had to ( were forced to) leave) their home. Talk about a traumatic event.

[Weldoron]

I spent time on DIego Garcia, and know exactly what was in that container in the MLO/CTR area,we put them in the mil-van or sealand container. The drum were light green and white stripped the name on them spelled out "VAPAM" I can tell you the whole story but not on this post.