Task 1

Rainbow Death


America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson

Brief Introduction of Hubert

He was a Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF Security Service. Along with a dozen or so intelligence school grads, prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in southeat Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of them were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a more contaminated environment than Da Nang.

Hubert's health problems started around 15 years ago with limb pains and unexplained headaches. His central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches and progressive limb pains four years ago. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness and ever rendered any medical assistance to Hubert. He guessed that the symptoms were caused by the drinking of large amount of contaminated water at Shemya during that year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

Reason why Hubert wrote this poem

Agent Orange is the code name for an herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD—used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War.
According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4,800,000 Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects. This chemical has been reported to cause serious skin diseases as well as a vast variety of cancers in the lungs, larynx, and prostate.

From 1961 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange, dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins.

He wanted to remind people that the war does not end even though it was over.