State resolution encourages congressional support of Blue Water Navy veterans

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DENVER, CO - MARCH 7: Vietnam Veterans Gene Keys, left, and Lorrie McLaughlin, both from Loveland, salute for the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the Veteran's event. The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association along with State Senator Laura Woods, host the first Vietnam Veterans Appreciation Day on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol which will coincide with the introduction in the Senate Chambers of a state resolution in support of pending federal legislation. (Photo by Kathryn Scott Osler/The Denver Post)

DENVER, CO - MARCH 7: Vietnam Veterans Gene Keys, left, and Lorrie McLaughlin, both from Loveland, salute for the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the Veteran's event. The Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association along with State Senator Laura Woods, host the first Vietnam Veterans Appreciation Day on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol which will coincide with the introduction in the Senate Chambers of a state resolution in support of pending federal legislation. (Photo by Kathryn Scott Osler/The Denver Post)

By Julia Bergman

Connecticut may join a growing list of states that have passed resolutions urging Congress to restore the presumption that Blue Water Navy veterans, who served on ships in the coastal waters of Vietnam during the Vietnam War, were exposed to Agent Orange during their service, making them eligible for certain federal veterans’ benefits.

While it’s come up in past legislative sessions of the Connecticut General Assembly, this is the first time that the resolution has made it out of the Veterans Affairs Committee.

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military sprayed herbicides, named Agent Orange for the orange-striped barrels in which the herbicide mixture was stored, over Vietnam to destroy vegetation used by the enemy to hide.

The herbicides contained dioxin, a chemical that “has been linked to a number of serious and disabling illnesses hire vetsaffecting thousands of veterans,” the resolution says.

The Agent Orange Act of 1991 recognizes certain diseases linked to chemical exposure as service-connected diseases among veterans who served in Vietnam between 1962 and 1975.

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