Williams’ revelations were backed by former soldier Ted Bosworth, who drove the scientists to the site in the 1960s. “There was an English scientist and an Australian. I heard they both later died of cancer. They sprayed the trees by hand and then in the next couple of weeks I took them back up and they put ladders up against the trees and took photos of them as the foliage was dying”, he said. “They called it some other funny name - I hadn’t heard of Agent Orange then.” Williams also said that a file that could indicate much wider testing in a project called Operation Desert had gone missing from the archives. It was marked “too disturbing to ever be released”.
The Australian government and the military leadership during the war were directly involved in the poisoning of Vietnam’s people and environment. They ordered the widespread spraying of Agent Orange by Australian troops in Phuoc Tuy province, particularly around the Australian base at Nui Dat.
Royal Australian Air Force helicopters from No. 9 Squadron had spray booms attached for aerial spraying. Australian army trucks with spray rigs carried 300 gallon (about 1135 litres) tanks of Agent Orange. Soldiers were also assigned to spray by hand. Immediately the hand-spraying teams manifested medical problems including the breakdown of mucus membranes, ulceration of lips, profuse nosebleeding and severe conjunctivitis. So what did the army do? Instead of stopping the spraying, it rotated the job through different units at the base.
There is also strong evidence that the Australian military brass knew from the start at least some of the long-term effects of Agent Orange. In an affidavit filed on May 1, 1980, Lt. Craig Steele (a hygiene officer in Vietnam) stated: “I had in my possession written guidelines on Agents Orange, Blue, and Hyvar. These guidelines carried the explicit warnings in bold print that the misuse of these chemicals may result in sterility and/or congenital abnormalities in humans.” These guidelines were in place from day one.
August 10 marks 50 years since Agent Orange was first sprayed by US forces in Vietnam. For the Vietnamese it will be a day of remembrance for those killed by Agent Orange as well as a day of action, rallying for the millions still suffering in Vietnam today. In Australia we can help these victims and our fellow workers in Vietnam by demanding that the Australian government take its share of responsibility for this war crime along with the US government and the chemical companies that profited from it.