Did You Drink Milk in Vietnam ?

Tom's Journal.
http://tomschuckmanjournal.blogspot.com/
tschuckman@aol.com

From my friend and fellow combat Veteran in Australia:

Bob "Bomber" Gibson
Australian Vietnam Veteran.
Rifleman D&E Platoon 1 ATF
1967 - Oct 1968 TET .
DUTY FIRST

If you drank milk in Vietnam between 1965 and 1972 you ingested Agent
Orange and a variety of other herbicide residues.

As you may know, the Foremost Milk Company (now out of business in the US
based in Los Angeles held the DOD contract for the US military's milk
supply in So'east Asia. Before and after shipping packaged 'finished milk'
in its distinctive orange/white containers, Foremost shipped a milk
concentrate to ' Nam which was to be mixed with water. Unfortunately the
water used was taken from the Saigon River which, DOD belatedly learned,
was infested with herbicide drainage. Foremost USA went defunct several
years ago but Foremost Vietnam is still in operation.

Milk became an essential export by the USG to Vietnam after 1967 after
doctors in the States discovered they were treating large numbers of
Vietnam vets suffering from gastroenteritis and other colon inflammatory
illnesses due to lack of the enzyme used by the intestines to digest milk.
If a person continues to drink milk their body will continue to produce
the enzyme (kind of like a wet nurse who continues to manufacture breast
milk for decades after giving birth as long as her milk continues to be
suckled.

However, if a person stops drinking milk their body stops producing the
enzyme. Because milk was not as available in 'Nam during America's early
deployment thousands of Americans assigned to Vietnam gradually stopped
producing the enzyme... But when they returned back to The World the first
thing they consumed in large quantities was milk... Which made them sick
because they could no longer adequately digest it.

As a result, Foremost was contracted to ensure there was always a large
supply of milk for GI's to consume. Unfortunately, the high demand
resulted in its Vietnam production being mixed with tainted water. Hence,
many American's who served in Vietnam but had no direct contact with
herbicide distribution or deployment contracted the chemicals through the
milk they drank.

REFERENCES:

1. Herbicides Used in Vietnam
http://members. AOL.com/warlibra ry/vwhr1. Htm

2. Foremost Vietnam
http://www.asemconn ectvietnam. Gov.vn/Localgove rnment/Local.
Aspx?ProvinceId= 50&Langid=1&MenuID=19&Type=5&DnID=7503