A U.S. Air Force Fairchild UC-123B Provider C-123 Ranch Hand aircraft sprays defoliant over the target area of “Operation Pink Rose” in January 1967. During the Pink Rose test program target areas near Tay Ninh and An Loc, South Vietnam were sprayed with defoliation agents twice and with a drying agent once. Ten flights of three Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses each dropped 42 M-35 incendiary incendiary cluster bombs (per aircraft) into the target area setting fires that should burn the heavy growth as well as enemy fortifications hidden there.
It’s been 45 years since the last U.S. troops came home from Vietnam—but veterans and the federal government are still litigating Agent Orange claims.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court granted cert in a pro bono appeal by lawyers from Latham & Watkins on behalf of a man who served on the destroyer escort U.S.S. Roark during the Vietnam War. Robert H. Gray blames his exposure to the herbicide’s dioxin for a host of medical problems, including type 2 diabetes, neuropathy and heart disease.
