Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange in Okinawa
Important Message
Agent Orange Exposure and Disability Compensation
If you have a health condition caused by exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange during your service, you may be eligible for VA disability compensation. Compensation provides tax-free monthly payments.
Please provide your information if you are a veteran who served in Okinawa and was exposed to Agent Orange and wish to be added to our database. This database will be delivered to CONGRESS, The Department Of Defense, & The Veterans Administration EVERY MONTH.
Resources Regarding Okinawa and Agent Orange
The basics: Agent Orange and military defoliants on Okinawa
Today, more than 250 U.S. veterans claim that Agent Orange was stored on Okinawa during the 1960s and 1970s. Some of these veterans maintain that defoliants were sprayed on the island to keep the fence lines, roads, antenna farms and runways clear of vegetation; others allege surplus and damaged barrels were buried on Okinawa since it was cheaper than shipping them back to the United States.
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The Machinato Service Area in the 1970's
Many Veterans have been concerned about their possible exposure to chemicals (such as Agent Orange) which reportedly were kept in various places on the island including the Machinato area and specifically near the PsyOp Printing Plant that was close to a known storage site for chemicals. Research is ongoing to document any evidence of those stockpiles from photos of Okinawa during the 1970’s. The research is to help identify potential exposure sites.
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The Machinato Service Area in the 1970's
Additional map and information.
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The Machinato Service Area in the 1970's
Additional map and information.
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The PACT Act and your VA benefits
The PACT Act is a law that expands VA health care and benefits for Veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances. This law helps us provide generations of Veterans—and their survivors—with the care and benefits they’ve earned and deserve. This page will help answer your questions about what the PACT Act means for you.
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Okinawa and review of the historical records on Agent Orange
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Updating VA Adjudication Regulations for Disability or Death Benefit Claims Related to Exposure to Certain Herbicide Agents
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to amend its adjudication regulations relating to exposure to certain herbicide agents to incorporate the provisions of the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019 (the BWN Act), specifically by extending the presumed area of exposure…
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Agent Orange Okinawa Documentary
This is the English-language version of Defoliated Island, a Japanese award-winning documentary about the usage of Agent Orange on Okinawa during the Vietnam War. Produced by Okinawa TV station, QAB, the show won national acclaim in Japan when it was first aired in May 2012.
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Toxic Secrets
Our investigation uncovered a possible link between a cluster of Leukemia cases in children in South Korea, strange health problems among a small group of military veterans now scattered across the United States, and a secret the US Army has been keeping for 30-years – and it all started with the confession of a dying man in a trailer park in Apache Junction, Arizona.
In late 2010, Army veteran Steve House contacted CBS 5 Investigates, saying he wanted to tell the story about something he had done, while stationed at Camp Carroll, South Korea in 1978. House said he and other members of his platoon were ordered to bury hundreds of drums of toxic Agent Orange on the military base under the cover of night.
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Peabody Awards - Toxic Secrets
In late 2010, Army veteran Steve House contacted the investigative news unit of CBS News 5. House was dying and wanted to give an account of his actions while stationed at an Army base in South Korea more than thirty years earlier.
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The VA rejects evidence Agent Orange was used at Fort Ord, leaving ill veterans without aid.
Convinced her time living on the former Fort Ord led to her diagnosis of multiple myeloma, U.S. Army veteran Julie Akey formed a Facebook group in 2019 called “Cancer and illnesses from Fort Ord, CA military base.”
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Agent Orange at Okinawa
Recently released documents indicate that herbicide agents and other chemicals were once present at the U.S. Army Machinato Service Area, now known as Camp Kinser, in Okinawa, Japan. Learn more about these new developments and how it may affect your claim.
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VA and DOD continue to ignore suffering caused by Agent Orange in Okinawa
25,000 barrels of Agent Orange were stored at Machinato, Okinawa in 1971. The U.S. government still says it was never there. The United States government says Agent Orange was never present or used in Okinawa. For two generations they have denied medical assistance to thousands of veterans suffering from Agent Orange exposure.
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Jon Mitchell: "Freedom of Information Act: a Tool to Probe U.S. Intel/Military Operations in Japan"
Jon Mitchell: Special Correspondent, Okinawa Times and Award Winner of FCCJ’s Freedom of the Press Lifetime Achievement Award
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ROAD TO NAMINOUE - OKINAWA
Popular song in Okinawa.
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