Hanoi (VNA) - As a Viet Nam war veteran, Chuck Searcy saw the war firsthand. Now, his mission is one of reconciliation. A VNA staff reporter spoke with Chuck about the war, Agent Orange and hospitality.

I'm a veteran from the US war in Viet Nam.  I was in Sai Gon (now Ho Chi Minh City) from 1967-68 in the US army. After one year in Viet Nam, when I went back to the US, I had completely changed my thinking and my opinion about the war.  I decided the war was a terrible, tragic mistake by the US.  I went back to the US and I joined the opposition to the war and spoke to many people about the war and urged the American government to stop the war.

When the war was over, for many years I thought about Viet Nam.  I didn't come back to Viet Nam until 1992 as a tourist and I was amazed that the Vietnamese people were so open and friendly and warm and welcoming to American veterans.  At that time I began to think, there may be some way I could come back to Viet Nam and work and live here and contribute something useful and positive.

I came back in 1995 and worked on some humanitarian programmes with the Swedish Children's Hospital and Bach Mai Hospital helping children with disabilities, like polio and cerebral palsy.  We made braces to help them walk.

In 2000 I started working with the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial Fund in Quang Tri Province, to help the government with landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).

I have met some families in Viet Nam who have two or three or more children who are sick and disabled.  The families believe the reason in Agent Orange.  I know there is not 100 percent proof that the result is from Agent Orange, but the situation they describe: the father or mother were exposed to Agent Orange or lived on land contaminated by the chemical -- they can find no other reason that 2 or 3 children are so disabled in one family.  For me, the evidence is clear.  I know its difficult to say 100 percent that this is the result of Agent Orange, but if you can find no other reason, then I agree with these families who believe the problem is the result of Agent Orange.

In the US many veterans and their children are suffering from the affects of Agent Orange.  The US government agrees that their problems are probably the result of Agent Orange.  They pay the veterans and their families a small amount of money every month.  I think the US government should do the same for Vietnamese.  It's a matter of fairness and justice.

My sister-in-law was married to a veteran.  For many years he was in the hospital many times with many serious problems.  He died, believing his problems were due to Agent Orange. His problems were so serious and complicated, even the doctors could not explain why he had so many problems, except that it was from Agent Orange.

I think the most important responsibility should be with the US government, because-- I don't defend the chemical companies, I don't say that what they did was OK-- but they were acting on the order of the US government.  The US government told them to produce Agent Orange and paid them a lot of money to do it.  I think the government has a bigger responsibility.  But, also the chemical companies, they have some responsibility to say to the US government and to everyone that Agent Orange is poison and is extremely dangerous. 

I think the chemical companies knew that the chemical was this dangerous. They should have told the government that they would not make it, and the  chemical should not have been used in Viet Nam. But they didn't say that. Even they had some studies and some reports, indicating that this was very dangerous, and yet they continued to make it, and continued to send it to Viet Nam. The US military continued to use it in Viet Nam. And now we see the consequences many years after the war. So, it is a shared responsibility, and the chemical companies have some responsibility.

Ethically, those companies must take responsibility./.