Ortonville- Jan Mayhew can still remember the odor.
From the deck of the USNS Corpus Christi, anchored in Camron Bay’Mayhew, then a 22-year-old aircraft repair specialist, recalls watching the battles in the delta regions off the coast of Vietnam.
‘It was like watching fireworks from the ship’we never got hit, but each day the Navy Seals would dive under our ship to see if the North Vietnamese had planted any explosives,? said Mayhew, now 62 and a village resident.
‘I can’t forget the smells of the place, we were about 2 miles off shore and foul chemical smells would drift out to the ship from the delta area where a lot of the fighting would happen. I saw them spraying the Agent Orange’it was a strange odor. I asked our company commander about what they were spraying’he would not answer me. They never talked about it.?
Mayhew was one of millions of American soldiers exposed to toxic herbicides in Vietnam between 1962 and 1971. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, more than 20 million gallons of the product were used to remove unwanted plant life and leaves which otherwise provided cover for enemy forces during the Vietnam conflict.
Mayhew’s trek to Vietnam and Camron Bay in the South China Sea started about two years earlier as a student at Flint Junior College in 1966.
‘I was a full-time student at FJC and had a student deferment,? said Mayhew, a 1963 graduate of Brandon High School. ‘But I just happened to drop one class, so my student status changed to part-time. Within 30 days, I received a draft notice. I was raised to be a good citizen; my father was in the Navy during World War II, so off I went to the Army.?
Mayhew reported to Fort Wayne, Ind. in 1966 and was trained in aircraft overhaul and maintenance at several bases, including Naval Air Station Corpus Christi.
‘Our job was to completely overhaul aircraft right there in Vietnam’we could do all the work right there in country on a ship without having to leave or send out for parts. My job was on the ship Corpus Christi, which was just offshore from Vung Tau (Vietnam).?
During his one-and-a-half years on board ship, Mayhew learned to speak the Vietnamese language while on shore leave in Vung Tau.
‘I went to the market in Vung Tau as often as possible,? he said. ‘I learned the language by just hearing it so often. I made friends with many of the people there. Many of the village residents were impacted by the war, although the battles were more outside the residential areas.?
Mayhew recalls daily fire-fights and the continued spraying of the chemical on the foliage. Often, said Mayhew, those soldiers mixing the chemicals would add more product than necessary prior to spraying.
‘The chemical would kill foliage within 24 hours, so if they mixed twice as much as recommended by the manufacturer, it would kill plants that much faster. They wanted to put that chemical out there so the enemy would not have a chance to dig in right after they killed their cover.?
Mayhew was discharged from the Army in May 1969 and returned to the United States in poor health, which included a diagnosis of malaria along with other illnesses.
‘The American doctors would not make the diagnosis for me, but a Vietnamese doctor said I had malaria right away.?
Mayhew returned to Vietnam after his discharge, and worked for an aircraft company under civilian Army contract. He worked in Vietnam until 1973’a total of about six years’within the village of Vung Tau and other areas.
He married Tam, a Vietnamese native, in 1971.
Over the next 34 years, Mayhew suffered from a variety of health issues, which makes it difficult to work or perform certain functions.
‘I lost part of the use of my fingers’it’s a neurological problem. After I returned to the United States they did a variety of tests’but doctors just can’t test for everything. Many thought I was just being a hypochondriac. I was not sure if anyone else was suffering like I was.?
‘The government has assumed some responsibility for the effects of the Agent Orange’but they just can’t say all my symptoms are the result of being exposed. There has been some compensation for the injuries’but it continues to be a huge battle to say it all happened on active duty in Vietnam. But it’s getting better.?
‘How could they treat everyone who had a problem? It would have been easier for me to have been shot’it’s more of an acceptable war injury. Right now I just want to take care of my family and deal with my health issues.?