Plaque Honors Uncounted Vietnam Vets

A granite plaque was unveiled Thursday near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to honor uncounted veterans who died after their war service from the lasting effects of Agent Orange, post-traumatic stress disorder or other unseen wounds. Based on the controversial criteria used to count deaths Americans will never know how many soldiers' lives were shortened by the Vietnam War. "No statistics have been kept on how many people died as a result of Agent Orange or post-traumatic stress disorder suicides," Fitzgerald said. Between 1962 and 1971, U.S. planes sprayed an estimated 21 million gallons of defoliant, mostly Agent Orange, over Vietnamese forests where they believed communist troops might be hiding. [more]