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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual collections.
Collection: Blackwell, Morton: Files
Folder Title: Vietnam Veterans of America:
[Vietnam Veterans of America]
(1 of 2)
Box: 54
To see more digitized collections visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library inventories visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection
Contact a reference archivist at: [email protected]
Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing
National Archives Catalogue: https://catalog.archives.gov/
VIETNAMVETERANSOFAMERICA
329 EIGHTH STREET NE, WASHINGTON, DC 20002
February 5, 1982
Dear VVA Member:
Never in VVA's more than four years of existence has there been as much excite-
ment or attention focused on our nationwide activities as during the past few weeks
following our successful mission to Vietnam.
It is not surprising that some other veteran groups--most notably the
VFW-denounced our initiative. Our accomplishments have been praised, however, by
opinion leaders across the country in editorials, commentaries, as well as by the
general public, in literally thousands of letters which have flooded our
Washington, D.C. office.
In January we were contacted by the Vietnamese government who advised us that, as
a result of our trip, Vietnam will allow representatives from our State Department
and Defense Department to visit Vietnam in February to renew discussions, on an offi-
cial level concerning an accounting for the missing in action. VVA is most grateful
to have played the crucial role in making these needed talks a reality.
Our trip to Vietnam came at a time when there were no discussions going on bet-
ween Vietnam and the United States. America has never recognized Vietnam, and there-
fore has no diplomats there. As we found out on our trip, relations between the two
governments were in a deep freeze. We approached the Vietnamese last October and
expressed the desire to send the first delegation of former soldiers back to Hanoi to
begin a dialogue on the issues of the missing in action and the effects of Agent
Orange. The Vietnamese were impressed by the fact that VVA is the only national,
exclusively Vietnam-era veteran's, organization in America and that we were formally
recognized by the government in 1981 when we were accredited by the Veterans
Administration. The result was four members of the National Board of Directors were
invited to spend four days in Hanoi and two in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Siagon) for
a series of meetings with various government representatives. The highlight of our
trip was the meeting with the Foreign Minister, Nguyen Co Thach. It was there that
we reached agreement on four major points.
First, the Vietnamese pledged to renew their efforts to provide an accounting for
the missing in action. They said, however, that they would work directly with VVA
and had no intention with working with Administration officials. We urged them to
include our government in discussions that would continue between us. They virtually
suspended all efforts on the MIA question last year when, after returning three sets
of remains, the response was a letter of recrimination from our State Department
inquiring about the circumstances of death and why the remains hadn't been returned
earlier. The National League of Families much-heralded reaction of calling the
return of the remains "a slap in the face" didn't help. The Vietnamese felt there
was no reason to do anything more if all they could look forward to was a negative
reaction. By working with VVA, they felt they could justify renewed efforts on our
pledge not to exploit the MIA matter for political gain.
A not-for-profit national veteran's organization
-2-
The second point of agreement concerned Agent Orange. In the more than three
years since our first congressional hearings on Agent Orange, we have consistently
been advised that to get the needed programs of assistance enacted we would need
scientific proof that we would probably only get by going to the laboratory were
Agent Orange was used. And that, of course, is Vietnam. We have secured the
agreement by Vietnam to allow U. S. scientists and doctors to visit the country and
work cooperatively with their scientists and doctors to try and get the conclusive
evidence needed to realize assistance.
Our third agreement involves their willingness to receive continuing delegations
of Vietnam veterans, through our organization, to continue the dialogue started on
this last trip.
Fourth, they agreed to develop, as feasible, a cultural exchange program through
-our organization.
Clearly, we accomplished more than simply starting a dialogue, which was our ori-
ginal objective. A further, more detailed report is being prepared and will be
available soon.
In general, 1981 was a turnaround year for VVA. We more than tripled our mem-
bership and realized the development of numerous successful chapters around the
country, with many more in various stages of growth. The series of benefit concerts
performed for us by Bruce Springsteen in Los Angeles, Pat Benatar in Detroit, and
Charlie Daniels in Saratoga, New York, gives us some relief from the debts that were
built up in our earlier year and has allowed us to start a membership development
program. We received a list of approximately one million names and addresses of
Vietnam-era veterans from the Veterans Administration, and as we realize the ability
to mail to this group, our membership should increase significantly.
We have come a long way very quickly, but we still have a long way to go before
we can provide the services and assistance to individual members, chapters, and
others that we so desperately need to do. We need your help and your understanding
as we work towards that goal. To build on the the accomplishments of the past is
crucial if we are to continue to make progress. We need you to renew your national
dues and get others to join VVA. Dues are still nine dollars. It is our membership
support that has allowed us to survive and do our work. Also, not only do we need
you as a member of VVA National, we need your active participation. If you are not a
member of a chapter in your area, I urge you to join in the effort. If you are a
member of a chapter and you have not been active, I urge you to pitch in and do your
part.
Americans are starting to wake up and appreciate the Vietnam veteran and the
unfinished business of healing the wounds and learning some lessons from our war.
But, that is a slow and difficult process. We need your continued support now. The
promise for VVA's future, as well as the need for our work, has never been greater.
Sincere
O. Muller
Executive Director
Remarks by Robert O. Muller
Niagara Community College
Buffalo, New York, March 30, 1982
Transcribed by:
Dan Cragg & Peter Joannides, April 1982
I would like to ask first of all if there are some Vietnam veterans in the audience.
Just raise your hands. Oh, my God, are there any students out there?
What we'll do, we have a movie to show on the Vietnam war and a documentary and
it stresses a little bit the Vietnam veteran. When the movie's over I'm going to come
out and bring you up to date on some of the points that are made in the film.
(Unintelligible) which is a question and answer session and I ask that the number of
Vietnam vets that we have in the audience without having questions, if you just share
with the rest of the people in the audience here your views and your perspectives on
the war and what its like to be a veteran and how the whole process has affected you.
The one thing that there is complete agreement on is that nobody has a monopoly
regarding what happened in the Vietnam war and it has reflected the diversity of
experiences of the veterans. This is helpful in trying to educate and share with people
what that whole process meant for us.
I think the aspect of the Vietnam war that I'm finding most difficult to deal
with is the silence that has followed the war. I think it reflects on us as a nation
and as a people and it says something about our morality and our conscience, is when you
have something like Vietnam that was America's longest and costliest war, one that
cost 57,000 American soldiers their lives, 300,000 plus wounded and you got a nation
that seems to pretent thought it never happened at all. If you don't look through
that experience of Vietnam the real tragedy that you might, having failed to learn the
lessons of history, repeat it, seems all too possible. And yet we do have to get back
and examine what happened, why it happened. To fail to do that is everywhere around
us. Just a couple of weeks ago there was a press conference in Washington where the
President of the U. S. was asked to compare what is going on in El Salvador with what's
going on in Vietnam and he went on a rambling monologue at some length recounting his
view of history and the Vietnam war and talked about such things as Vietnam historically
having been two separate countries, that it was Ho Chi Minh in 1956 that failed to go
forward and hold the elections that were called for by the Geneva Conference, that
it was Kennedy who sent the Marines into Vietnam after our people were blown up with
pipe bombs. That the President, who is charged with the responsibility of making
critical foreign policy decisions to demonstrate such a gross, inaccurate sense of
history, is appalling.
A few weeks back there was a symposium in New York where some of the prime architects
of the Vietnam war came together. It was the first time, to my knowledge, that so many
of the principals came together to discuss what happened. You had Ambassador Ellsworth
Bunker, you had Barry Zorthian, who was their information officer for many years, you
had William Bundy, who was Assistant Secretary of State for Far East Asia, you had
Phil Geyelin (?) and what was amazing about the conference was that here the principal
players throughout that period of history could not come to agreement about simple
questions of fact of what happened.
When Bundy was given the microphone for what was to be a five-minute presentation
chronicling the events that led to the Tonkin Resolution, he seized the opportunity
to go on basically for a fifty-minute presentation where he ran by hour by hour the
cable traffic as it was coming in to the White House in an effort to try and justify
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
2
the position taken in pushing through the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. He had been
challenged by Dan Ellsberg on what that cable traffic was. And so it went throughout
most of the day, not only on the episode of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, but on a lot
of components of the whole war.
Is it really surprising if you can't get agreement on the simple question of what
happened? That you have even less agreement on why it happened? And the analysis of
History? But these are things that have got to be addressed and have got to be under-
stood. Why did we get into Vietnam? Why did we fail in obtaining our objectives in
Vietnam? Was it the military that failed to implement policy correctly? Was it the
Congress that abdicated its responsibility? If you read the Constitution it says
Congress is required to declare war. Was it the acceptance of the office of the
Presidency? Was in the intelligence agencies that failed to assess the situation and
to communicate the reports about what was going on in Indochina? Was it the media that
likewise failed to give an accurate portrayal of what was going on? Was it the peace
movement? Was it the peaceniks that gave a picture of a divided America to the enemy
and therefore gave them the will to continue the war?
Why we failed is important to us to understand because the same institutional
forces that were at play then are at work today. The machinery of government, diplomacy
and of the military has got to be recognized in terms of that broad systemic failure
and rehabilitated so that however meritorious an involvement might ba, in the months
and years ahead, that we don't suffer the fate of failed policy. Why did Vietnam happen?
What are those values and interests that we as a nation are prepared to go to war for?
What do you do when a lunatic takes our people hostage in Iran? What about the Soviets
coming into Afghanistan or Poland? What do you do when the oil supply out in the Persian
Gulf area is threatened? These are the questions that shouldn't simply be abstract
esoteric matters, and the students in particular that are out here tonight, you gotta
remember that the average age of a combat soldier in Vietnam was nineteen. The
process of the Selective Service System as we lived through it with the equity that it
yielded in terms of allowing the privileged and the rich to sell off and avoid the
service have been taken out.
You had twenty-seven million men that were draft eligible during the Vietnam
era. Of that twenty-seven million, nine million went to the military. A third of them
wound up going to Vietnam and it was disproprotionately the working class and the
minorities that wind up paying the price on the battlefield. There's one thing that you
don't have to know, when you get that letter, and it says "Greetings," the language
that they use is not passive. The language is "you are to report." They could care
less if you've got a fiancee that you're going to get married to, perhaps, or that you're
about to start a job that you spent years preparing for. If push comes to shove in
the months ahead or years ahead, and they go on with what they're planning to do, which
is a lottery system and your date of birth gives you a number that's likely to be
called first, just remember that it might be the old politicians in Washington that
will declare the war, but you're the ones who have to fight it.
I have been shocked and stunned on this recent tour that I have been on, as I've
talked to more than twenty campuses in the past two months, and have had contact with
the nineteen-year olds today, to come to understand how little you basically know
about what the generation that immediately before you went through in fighting our war.
I don't blame you. The college text books, the high school text books, have very little
about Vietnam, bay and large, and what they have is often inaccurate, I blame the
society generally for the silence that has allowed this ignorance to be fostered.
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
3
Not only the knowledge of what we went through, but an appreciation for how
profound Vietnam was for us as a people is something that I think we really didn't
understand until perhaps last year, when there was a woman, twenty-three years old,
and she said, "Bobby, after the hostages came back from Iran, that was the first time
that I ever waved an American flag and sang a patriotic song and felt good about it;
didn't feel funny, didn't feel corny, felt good about it." And when she said that, 1
realized, for her generation, that they had come of age and grown up in a time when
they probably don't appreciate what it was like to many of us. Sure, when we grew up,
in the early part of the sixties, it was a totally different time than we have today.
It was a time of growth and prosperity and maybe that's what you need. Maybe you need a
period of growth and prosperity so people can raise their heads beyond their own
immediate circumstances in life, and what's required to hold the pieces of the puzzle
together for themselves.
But it was also a time when our leadership had survived the depression, fought
the Second World War, had saved the world for freedom and democracy. It was a time when
we were very proud, very confident, very spirited. We felt we could do anything. We
were the unchallenged power in the world. We were the bastion of freedom and democracy
and when Kennedy said we were going to the moon, there were very few that doubted it.
It was a time when we had leaders in America like Martin Luther King that pricked the
conscience of America and started the sit-ins and freedom marches and gave rides to the
civil rights movement. And where was our government and where were our political
leaders of the day when the governors in many of the southern states proudly proclaimed
"segregation now and segregation forever"? They were the oneswho sent in the federal
troops to desegregate the schools. You had the Voting Rights Act that passed. You
had civil rights legislation that was passed. It was a time where our people stood for
and spoke out for the values that we grew up in and believed America was all about.
After Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson rode the emotional tide in this country.
He declared war on poverty and you heard things like equal opportunity, affirmative
action and the rhetoric of the day was one that recognized the inequities and suffering
in the land. It was a commitment to do somethingabout it. In terms of foreign policy,
it was simply more than the spirit of the Peace Corps, as altruistic as that was. Our
foreign policy was something that was recognized and it was understood by the over-
whelming majority of Americans. It was born out of the Second World War, where our
leaders realized what a policy of appeasement could yield when we allowed Hitler to
gain the strength that he did and ultimately had to fight the war that we did. They
were determined never ever again to let aggression move that far down the road before we
could cut it off. We had the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, we went to Korea, we
had the Berlin Airlift, we stood the Soviets down over the Cuban Missile Crisis. Our
foreign policy was paying the price, bearing the burden to contain the expansion of
Communism anywhere in the Free World. Simplistic for sure, but understood, recognized
and supported by the American people.
I was a senior in college and I remember my management professors telling me,
"Bob, you'd better have military experience on your resume." It was the expected
thing for us to serve. I remember the New York Times editorials that were stating
the case for holding the line for Communist expansion in Indochina. We could lose
Malaysia and the Philippines and Australia and ultimately Japan. There wasn't much
reason to question the leadership that stood for everything that was right and the
broad base of support behind those policies. And one day that senior year, being of
sound body and mind, knowing the Service was somewhat inevitable, I saw a Marine on
campus.
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
4
And the guy was a classic Marine. He stood around six two, wore his dress blue
uniform. I said, "Hey, you look sharp! As long as I'm goin' I might as well go
first class, go all the way, and do the best job I could." I signed up in the Marines.
If you don't know anything about "the military, let me tell you a little bit. about it.
For one thing, it's very seductive. Eighteen, nineteen, twenty-year old guys often-
times have a question about their manliness, their manhood, their courage. You wonder,
do I have what it takes to face combat? Do I have what it takes to kill another
human being? Or will I, as the Hollywood movies tentimes portray it, freeze in that
critical moment? There's a little adventurism, a little excitement about goin' to war.
And once you start, you start firing a weapon. You fire a machinegun. You fire
rockets, a certain rush, a certain excitement, and at the same time you're being told
a story of what's going on in the war, of what's going on in Vietnam, about being told
how the guys who graduated just a couple of months ahead of you are already coming
back in boxes and how they'd been mutilated by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese.
And about what's going on in the innocent people in Vietnam.
And you go on the parade deck and you fix your baynets and you got hundreds of
guys chanting in uniform in unison, "Who do you kill? Luke the Gook!" and it starts
to work on you and you get psyched up in the process. I graduated honor man in my
platoon. I could have any MOS (military occupational specialty) I wanted, any job in
the military. I demanded infantry and I demanded Vietnam as my duty station. And if
some of you don't understand perhaps why goin' to war seems to be so important in the
lives of so many veterans, and why we keep coming back to it over and over again, let
me share with you one of the little components in that overall process of goin' to war
and maybe you'll understand why it leaves an indelible experience in the lives of those
who go through it.
When I said goodby to my mother and my father and my fiancee, in three years we
agreed that we were going to get married, until I came back from Vietnam, just in case
something happened. They didn't understand why that day at the airport I was as
emotional as I was. I had tears welling up in my eyes. I had told them I was a supply
officer and they thought I was going to have a real easy tour of duty. I didn't tell
them I was infantry for the very simple reason the statistics they gave us in training
was that eighty-five percent of junior officers were casualties. Those last few weeks
the question was never "Am I going to be hit?" the question that we talked about
was how bad was it going to be when we were hit; how would you react if you were the
one who lost an arm or lost a leg or were blinded or for God's sake, came back paralyzed?
And those were the thoughts that I had in my head as I said goodbye to them. And
believe me, when all of that rhetoric and all of that exciting thought about going to
war reduces itself down to your personal life and affects you that way with your loved
ones, that's when it becomes very real and that's also when the decisions you make are
the ones you tend not to forget.
I went to Vietnam. Inside of fifteen minutes from landing at Danang, I caught
a plane up north and went somewhere below the DMZ (demilitarized zone), working out
of Quang Tri and Dong Ha. I went out to take over a rifle platoon and when I was going
out to the LZ -- the landing zone -- (unintelligible) I said, "What's happening?"
and he said, "Lieutenant, they're in contact." I couldn't believe it. They tell you
in training that you got to prepare to take over the command of a unit in a combat
situation, but somehow it never seems real. You never believe that could possibly
really happen to you. And around forty-five minutes later he said, "We're going to try
and get you in," and we went someplace just below the DMZ out in the jungles and all
that and started circling around the mountain (unintelligible) and that's where the
chopper landed.
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
5
And inside of being on the ground five minutes, I saw the first dead bodies I'd
ever seen in my life. And I took over the rifle platoon that afternoon. It was the
point element on a company-sized patrol that got ambushed and four of my guys were
killed and eight of 'em wounded. And the reality of that situation as 1t is represented
in the faces and eyes of the soldiers that lived through it is something that makes. the
reality of war, something you also have to forget. Before we called the med evac
(medical evacuation) to get 'em out, we had some supporting arms called in and in the
training you go through, that's called the "mad minute," where they open up everything
they have, to show you firepower. It doesn't hold a candle to the real thing. When
you take all of the safety precautions and all of the safeguards and just throw them
out and you call, as we did that afternoon, for artillery strikes and the jet strikes,
just a couple of hundred meters beyond your perimeter, what you have when you do that
is the most awesome display of firepower that you ever dreamed imaginable. And I
started to gain a whole lot of confidence. I said, "Wow! With that on our side it
probably isn't going to be that bad after all. Anybody who's out there sure as hell
would be out of the area by now." If they weren't, they'd be dead. And when we called
in the chopper and threw the bodies on it and the wounded guys on and it got maybe
fifty meters off the deck, all of a sudden, all around our perimeter, they opened up
on it. And the chopper lifts off the ridgeline and starts to wobble and crashes and
everybody was killed. Welcome to Vietnam.
What happened in the months ahead is an experience that was shared by guys who
went to Vietnam. We fought a war in Vietnam. It wasn't a police action and it wasn't
a skirmish, it was a full-tilt, rock 'em sock 'em bloody war. It was a guerrilla war,
it was a war where you don't hold a piece of terrain, secure'it, move on and secure
additional terrain. A guerrilla war, one in which the people contain the enemy, the
people were the enemy. You couldn't find the enemy. And we were used as the bait in
Vietnam. We were used and dangled out there to become enough of a target of opportunity
for the enemy to show himself. Eighty percent of the contact in Vietnam, four out of
five times that there was contact, firefights, combat, it was initiated by the enemy.
They considered us enough of a target of opportunity that they would come in and would
be willing to absorb losses and hit us. Our standard procedure was to go out, dangle
ourselves out there, and once we got hit, consolidate our forces, and call in our
supporting arms and try and nail them as they were gettin' out of the area. When the
enemy did show himself, it was considered a golden opportunity. You had places like
Hamburger Hill, where they dug in and they chose to make a stand of it and we went up
there and we took those casualties and when we got up the hill, whad did you do after
you secured it? You're told to turn around and walk down to the bottom of the hill, let
them resume their positions so you could turn around and go back up the hill and then
down the hill and up the hill. I believe it was five times before finally somebody
said, "Stop the slaughter." But the slaughter was considered adequate because the war
was continued on the basis of a kill-ratio that so long as we killed ten enemy to every
one of us that bought it, the generals and the policy makers considered it adequate to
continue. And we paid a price for that policy. Sixty percent of enlisted Marines in
line units were casualties. Our guys were out on a patrol every single day and if you
didn't go out on patrol during the day, you went out on an ambush at night.
I am sick and tired of these old-line veterans saying, "You shoulda been there
for the big one." In many. ways Vietnam was the big one. In the Second World War we
dropped about 21/2 million tons of bombs on Europe and the pacific. In Vietnam by
air alone, we dropped over seven million tons. When you add to that your artillery
and naval gunfire, you have more than fourteen million tons of bombs and ordnance. The
equivalent of fuve-hundred and seventy Hiroshima type bombs. And you're talkin' about
a land where the people are basically peasants, where they're farmers and they relate
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
6
to their little rice paddies and a couple of miles around that perhaps is defined their
entire universe, with their little ancestral burial grounds, and in a war that is
designed to win the hearts and minds of these people, all of a sudden skies open up and
that level of violence is imposed on the land? One out of thirty people in Indochina
was killed; one out of twelve was wounded; and one out of five became a refugee.
I didn't fully appreciate, when I first came back and worked in populated areas,
why the Vietnamese, who I expected would regard me as a liberator and as a hero, looked
at me with fear and sometimes hostility and anger very evident on their face. But to
relaize what a program of dislocation meant to these people, to take them ten miles from
Gio Linh and put them in Cam Lo, was the equivalent of taking one of us from New York
to California, and you wondered why every time we operated around Cam Lo we got sniped
at, and we got ambushed. To work in a refugee area and realize when we move back to
a fire support base for five days and when we killed the rats that were running around
in the trenches and the bunkers, and threw them in the garbage in the one-hundred
degree heat, their bodies decomposed (and) when we went to dump the garbage, in the
dump that was right next to the refugee village, and that whole village poured out,
the kids just thrust the dead rats aside in an effort to salvage a rancid piece of meat
or anything out of the garbage. That's the level of degradation that the war so often
mean to these people.
You're talking about a guerrilla war in a country that's been fighting for decades.
You go out into places like Ashau Valley, way out in the boonies, and you understand
where Barry Goldwater was coming from in the early sixties, when he said, "If you're
going to win that war, you'd better use your low-yield nuclear weapons to defoliate
that triple-canopy jungle." Of course we didn't use low-yield nuclear weapons, but we
used something that turned out to be just as bad it seems, for us veterans. We used
Phenoxin herbicides, something now known as Agent Orange. But to get through that
triple canopy jungle was to find what we found in these areas: roads, tunnel complexes,
telegraph systems.
The policy makers in the rear, your Robert McNamara and the whiz kids at the
Pentagon, had no idea what the reality of fighting that war in Vietnam was all about.
If they did, if they ever operated around the DMZ, they would never have tried to Int
the McNamara Line, a technological barrier to prevent infiltration through the DMZ.
Anybody who was ever there would have known on the face of it that it was absurd. And
what happened to us? We'd get orders from the rear to take our units out, ten, fifteen
kilometers in heavy terrain, where if you ever did get into it theycould never react
and get out a force to bail us out. And guys got tired of slaughtering, to just get
used as cannon fodder, and they started to wake up. And how many times did guys go
out two or three clicks and sit down and call in their checkpoints for the rest of the
day? My favorite story was it was the priority mission in Vietnam at the time: We had
to get a prisoner out of the DMZ. We had three recon (reconnaissance) teams we were
sending to get a POW. Supposedly they were going to bring him to Paris, throw him on
the peace table to show that the Vietnamese in fact were violating the neutrality on
the DMZ. And we got briefed by more colonels than I'd ever seen before and they gave us
all of the guns in northern I Corps available to support. We had the battleship New
Jersey off the coast that afternoon. And after one of the recon teams got hit, I went
in with a reactionary element and after getting carte blanche the way I was, I used it.
I blew up the DMZ so bad that they knew all the way to Hanoi that Muller had landed
that afternoon. And they had a scrambler system on the radios that we had, where you
didn't have to talk in code, and at the end of the afternoon they said, "OK, we're going
to extract the reactionary elements and leave the original insert in." And this kid,
he was eighteen years old, nineteen years old, lance corporal, recon team leader, turned
to me and said, "What, are they crazy?" Of his eight guys, three were wounded. He
said, "They left me out here after you compromised our position the way you have, and
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
7
inside of a half an hour we're all gonna be dead." And I couldn't argue with him. And
he got on the hook (radio) and he said, "Look. I ain't John Wayne, I ain't playin'
John Wayne and I'm gettin' the hell out of here." That's what he said. And when they
brought in the choppers, he came out with us and he's alive today, as are the guys
from his team. Because he refused to continue to be used and abused.
As we were waking up, so was America. If you haven't seen the documentary that
was aired a few weeks back on CBS about the coverup leading to the Tet Offensive,
you missed something that you ought to make every effort you can to get your hands on
and see. CBS spent twelve months researching the story. They interviewed the senior
people in the intelligence agencies that were part of the Johnson administration and
the White House and the military, and what CBS concluded after a year's worth of
research, that what Tet was was nothing less than a conspiracy at the very highest level
in our government to deceive the American people. That was the truth of what was going
on in Vietnam.
President Johnson called back General William Westmoreland, commander, U. S. forces,
in preparation for the sixty-eight presidential campaign, to give a report to the joint
session of Congress. And he gave a glowing account of how victory was at hand and how
the war was almost won. What he didn't say was that he had set an arbitrary ceiling on
the numbers of enemy soldiers that were going to be allowed to be reported as being
in Vietnam. That he literally took half the enemy we were fighting and threw them
out and said they don't exist. It's one thing to lie to the Congress and to the American
public, but it's another thing to set us up as they did for that Tet Offensive. And
when you had that massive uprising all throughout Vietnam, you had thousands and thousands
of American servicemen pay the price as casualties. Whereas if we had been given half
an hour's notice in places like Hue, forexample, we could have taken up defensive
positions and prevented four weeks of heavy fighting and lots of casualties to regain
that territory. But we were considered a bargain, we were cheap, we were expendable.
In 1942 a dead GI cost the government $10,000, thirty years later it still cost the
government that same $10,000. Based on the numbers of the enemy killed in the Tet
Offensive, when they projected the additional wounded that those figures had to include,
according to Westmoreland and the military projectionists, every enemy soldier in
Vietnam was killed or wounded.
It was obvious that there was still a major fighting force out there. And what
was the reaction? He (Westmoreland) tried to get into the memory banks of the computer
to erase the figures they were using. It was a purposeful coverup to give a good
picture of what was going on. What did Johnson do in response to that? He called
together his senior advisers and said, "I want an assessment of what happened in Vietnam."
They back and they said, "Mr. President, the situation is hopeless and you've got
to start to negotiate your way out." He dismissed the advisers and he called on Clark
Clifford, one of his senior advisers, a guy who'd been a supporter of our involvement in
Vietnam for years, and he charged Clark Clifford with a mandate to do a review of our
status in Vietnam and Clifford came back and said, "Mr. President, it is hopeless and
you've got to start to negotiate our way out of there." And shortly after that, Johnson
went on national TV and withdrew from the presidential race. Then everything started
unraveling real quickly after that. Bobby Kennedy picked up the gauntlet and gets
assassinated, Martin Luther King gets assassinated. Washington, D. C. burns down in many
parts of that city and there were machinegun emplacements set up on the steps of our
nation's capitol. There was a convention in Chicago, that if you don't believe it was
a police riot, you haven't read the commission report that was held and you haven't seen
the footage of what happened in that city.
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
8
*
And what happened to us, the guys fighting over there? Goin' up a North Vietnamese-
held hill, I caught a bullet in the chest, went through both lungs and severed my
spinal cord on the way out and I am alive today because of the heroism, the bravery and
the sacrifice of the guys I fought in Vietnam with, the guys that ran up that hill and
picked me up and carried me down, the guys that flew the dustoff (helicopter medical
evacuation) missions, the medical evacuation helicopters coming in under enemy fire,
and getting me and the other guys out. I had a marvelous circumstance of events that -
afternoon, where with my luck the hospital ship Repose was right off the coast of where
I was. And they put in my medical records that had I arrived on that hospital ship one
minute later, I never would have lived because of the seriousness of the injury.
And then I go through this chain to come back to the States and I go through
being a Marine to becoming a veteran and I go from the military hospitals into the Veteral
Administration hospitals. In my hospital, not all the hospitals in the VA system are
the same, there's a lot of autonomy and some are good and some are bad. Well, I didn't
get one of the better ones. Mine was Kingbridge in the Bronx, in New York City. And
Life magazine came in and did a cover story exposé on the quality of care the returned
Vietnam veterans were receiving. With a cover story that turned out to be the second
largest selling issue that Life magazine ever put out. America was stunned, people were
shocked that we were allowed to come back to the squalid conditions, the dilapidated
facilities that we came back to. And oh, yes, Life magazine portrayed and showed
the pictures of the overcrowded, the run-down buildings, the lack of equipment, the
understaffing, but what they never could communicate in photographs was the stench of
that institution or the despair that was there. That's what I witnessed too, by the
fact that eight of my friends in the spinal cord injury service, including my closest
personal friend, wound up committing suicide. It wasn't just the Vietnam veterans and
the wounded that were shunted aside. In the discussions we will have in a little
while, I'm sure you'll hear from some of the other vets that are here about their welcome
home and about the inadequacies of their employment programs and their counseling
efforts and so on and so forth. And that's why I want to take a break.
Because of Vietnam was brought about something called the War Powers Act that's
supposed to require the President to consult with the Congress before he uses military
force. Did that stop President Carter from sending a military rescue effort into Iran?
With the very real probability that there was going to be an encounter? Did that
prevent Clark Clifford shortly after that from declaring unilaterally on behalf of the
President that the Persian Gulf was now an area of strategic and vital interest to the
U. S. and any moves into that area would be considered nothing less than an act of war?
You've got this administration that is making commitments and alliances all around the
world. We're assuring Saudi Arabia that if there's an uprising and the monarchy is
threatened, then we're not going to allow them to go the route of Iran. We just landed
a thousand marines in Oman six weeks ago, but you might not know about it because no
reporters or any press was allowed into Oman. You've got strategic trip wires that
are now being placed all over the world. Where I don't worry about in El Salvador, which
has a real slow fuze -- this film was made over a year and a half ago -- and people watch
everything that goes on in El Salvador. I worry about some crazy, lunatic government,
somewhere perhaps in the Middle East, be it a Khadafi, be it Lebanon which is basically
in a full state of war, be it some foul up in the withdrawal from the Sinai, be it
Iran or Iraq, be it Jordan that gets swept into it, be it the Sudan. I think the time
has come to reject the simplistic view of the world that this administration advocates
and its view of our role in it. I think the time has come to reject the kind of thinking
that argues for more nuclear weapons so that we can reduce nuclear weapons. To reject
the kind of diplomacy that is predicated on weapons sales.
*Robert Muller was wounded on April 29th, 1969. He arrived in Vietnam in August 1968,
seven months after the Tet Offensive.
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
9
(The following is extracted from the question-and-answer session that followed the
lecture and film presentation.)
Q.
When you met with the foreign minister (the North Vietnamese foreign minister in
Hanoi) did you have any documents to present to him concerning the POWs or the MIAs,
such as a list of names, live sightings, coordinates of downed planes, pictures
of missing men? Did you have any of that? Now you would have gotten that from
the National League of Families (National League of Families of American Prisoners
and Missing in Southeast Asia) had you really cooperated with them or talked to
Ann Griffiths (Ann Mills Griffiths, executive director of the National League).
M.
We had all that.
Q. Did you really have all that?
M. Ma'am, I'm gonna go on. Yes, we really had all that.
Q.
When you returned to the U. S. who debriefed you? Who were you debriefed by?
M.
We debriefed all the agencies that we talked to
Q.
No, who debriefed you?
M.
before we went.
hold on, I'm gonna stop you because it's not fair to
the students that are here.
Q. Why not? Why not? They could be missing like my brother. What do you mean, it's
not important?
Q. If there's one American in this world who wants to come home, that's not too many.
we know for a fact that they're there.
Q.
We listened to you about the Vietnam people, but what about my brother? What
happened to him? Why was he tortured?
M. All I can say to you is what everybody that's dealt with these issues has said
to us. Now you might choose to say, that every single branch of our government,
every single agency charged with the responsibility to acquire information on
these matters, is lying. You might charge to say that there's a conspiracy that's
passed any conspiracies you might have had. All I can tell you is what, in an honest
way, when we approached our representatives, our agencies, and anyone charged with
responsibility for these areas said to us. They have been in total harmony with
what they've said.* There's not validated, verified reports, as you represent, of
fifty Americans being held prisoner.
***
With regard to the four hundred bodies that are being warehoused in Vietnam
and are being retained, that is something that is being offered by varlous groups
and various self-appointed spokesmen. That is not justified, that is not validated.
It is not, as it is portrayed to be, "a recognized fact. Before we went to Vietnam,
we were briefed by everybody there was to be briefed by. We met with the Defense
Intelligence Agency, we met with the State Department, we met with the Select
See Mr. Muller's statement on the Tet Offensive "conspiracy" that begins on page 7 of
this transcript.
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
10
Committee in the Congress on MIAs and POWs; we met with the Joint Casualty
Resolution Center, we met with them again and our embassy representatives in
Bangkok, just as we were going into Hanoi, and they all said the same thing. They
said there is no substantiated reports of Americans being held against their will
in Vietnam nor are there substantiated reports of the warehousing, as you claim,
of four hundred bodies. That has continually been put forth as statements of
fact. The statements are not fact and I think it does a disservice to reasonable
and open argument and debate on the Vietnam issues.
***
I am more concerned with our government's accountability and with our govern-
ment's conduct in understanding what happened and making sure that some of the
things that happened in Vietnam don't happen again than I am in terms of the
accountability of the North Vietnamese or the Viet Cong.
(In response to a question asking whether Muller's organization would have any further
contact with the National League of Families.)
M.
National League of Families? Absolutely not, because they are an irresponsible
organization. You may quote me to Ann Mills Griffiths and the entire board of
directors: They are irresponsible.
Q.
Why are they irresponsible?
M. They have lied about their dealings with us. They have misrepresented the
situations as have transpired, witness your not knowing the first damned thing about
what's happening between the National League of Families and ourselves (the
Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc., of which Robert O. Muller is the executive
director).
Q.
I'm going to call Ann Griffiths tomorrow and deliver that message.
Q.
How in the heck can you sit there and say you represent the Vietnam veterans
when you go over to Hanoi and put a wreath on Ho Chi Minh's tomb?
M.
We went to Hanoi on a mission that was designed to provide information and to make
progress on specifically two concerns, the MIAs and the accounting of the MIAs, and
Agent Orange.
Q.
All I want is a straight answer. Was it political? Was it a political gesture to
get them in a more favorable mind?
M. I'm going to answer your question. That was the objective of the trip. It was
one that was to be achieved by fostering some sense of good will with the
Vietnamese. To try to recognize that the war is over and that we've got to start
toward the process of reconcilliation. And peace. When we got to Hanoi and set
out the agenda (of) what we were going to do the four days we were there, the one
stand-out facility, this very stand-apart facility, a building in Hanoi, is the
Ho Chi Minh Masoleum. It's the main square and it's impressive. We said we wanted
to visit the masoleum. The third day we were in Hanoi, on that afternoon, the
guides that we were with came to us and said they needed forty dollars. We said
for what? And they said for the wreath. And we said what wreath? And they said
that when a group visits the masoleum, it's customary to lay a wreath. We said,
okay. We talked about it and we decided not to lose the feeling of rapport we had
built up and established on the trip, we would go ahead and being that we asked to
visit the masoleum, that was what they considered proper protocol. We said,
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
11
because of our sensitivities, that this could be used for propaganda purposes.
We asked that no pictures be taken and they said, fine. For them it was no big
shakes, and we sticked to the agenda, as we'd set it out, When we went through we
were escorted by another group, that as we were going through, laid down a wreath.
And I think that on the basis of what we accomplished on the trip and the feelings
that were engendered, that it helped greatly in allowing us to get what we got.
I understand that it's sensitive, I understand that it was portrayed as being other
than what I'm trying to tell you now. That is the reason the wreath was laid down.
Q. But Mr. Muller, let's have some truth from you. I've waited six months as the
president of the Western New York chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America for
an answer to my letter. My letter simply asked you, what did you do with the
over half a million dollars your organization took in last year? There aren't any
service programs that we know of, not one penny goes back to the chapters. You
talk about an office on Park Avenue that's supposed to be shabby, but you just
mentioned earlier that you took in over seventy thousand dollars you made twenty
engagements at over $3,500 a crack. Mr. Muller, you know that we have information
that you own a $200 thousand dollar home on Long Island, which the downpayment
apparently came from the seed money for VVA. You have an officer of the VVA named
Larry Mitchell, who lied about being a POW, who lied about being a captain. All
this has been documented. But you continue to talk about the big lie, but you
refuse to be pinned down about items of the truth that you cannot stand up for.
What about Larry Mitchell? Isn't it true that he lied about all that? And your
friend, Mr. Harbert, who went to Vietnam with you, claimed to be a member of the
Red River Valley Pilots Association (an association of veterans of the air war
over North Vietnam), was not. All of this has been brought out, Mr. Muller, but
- you refuse to answer to anything. Okay. You have also failed to file income tax
returns for the last four years, either State or Federal. Why is that? (This
statement was followed by a long whistle and much laughter from the audience.)
M. You've gone through quite a list and I'm not going to recall all the allegations
you made. But what I'm going to ask of you is this. Number one, I'm gonna
say you are dead mistaken on just about every single thing you said. I mean dead,
flat-out mistaken. With regard to matters affecting our organization, and I
know where you've been gettin' some of that bum scoop that's. been goin' around, I'm
going to ask you that we get together and I'm goin' to get together with all the
guys from the chapter, and we'll hash out our organizational problems and
differences and policies and all that stuff. But here, when we're talking in this
forum, let's talk about the issues of Vietnam and the experiences of the Vietnam
veteran. And with regard to that, you've made a lot of statements and again, I'm
not goin' to be able to remember everything that you said, but they deserve a
response.
***
(Following are general remarks made by Muller at an informal session after the lecture
to the college student body.)
The National Vietnam Veterans Review is a paper that is antagonistic to us. Chuck Allen
(the editor/publisher) is, just, I think, doing a great disservice to publish the shit
he's been publishing, because I heard that he published Santoli's 18-page letter in its
entirety. It deserves rebuttal. (Albert Santoli, author of Everything We Had (Random
House, 1981), an oral history of the Vietnam war; his 18-page letter is a list of
charges against the Vietnam Veterans of America.)
We are running phone bills that are close to $5,000 a month. Our Washington, DC and
New York offices are running total expenses of $25-30,000 per month.
Muller, March 30, 1982, Niagara Community College
12
It might seem unconscionable to you, I'm going to give it to you as a statement of fact,
I don't deal with the chapter process, I don't deal with the membership. I deal with
one thing. I'm on the road constantly, raising money. The one function that I have
with the organization is to raise money.
Complete copies of the tapes from which this transcription were made are held by the
National League of Families, 1608 K Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20006 (202)-223-6846
and Mr. Peter Joannides, Chantilly, VA 22021-0021 (703)-620-6262
82-114
ИДО
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation
329 Eighth Street. N.E
Washington. D.C. 20002
(202) 546-3700
July 19, 1982
Mr. Donald J. Devine
Director
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
1900 E Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20415
Dear Mr. Devine:
This letter and attachments constitute an application by
the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation for admission as
a national voluntary agency to the Combined Federal Campaign
for the 1982 solicitation periods.
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation was incorporated
on May 15, 1980, in the State of Delaware and was ruled an
organization described under Section 501 (c) (3) of the
Internal Revenue Code by the Internal Revenue Service on
August 27, 1980. A copy of our exemption letter from the
IRS is attached. Our fiscal year runs from May 1 to April
30.
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation is a national
organization exclusively devoted to the welfare of Vietnam
era veterans. (Vietnam era veterans are those who served in
the U.S. armed forces from 1964 to 1975.) It has four pur-
poses. The first is to provide mechanisms through which
Vietnam veterans can develop positive identification with
their Vietnam service and with their peers who served with
them. The second is to deal with the physical, psychologi-
cal and economic consequences of the war for Vietnam
veterans. The third is to effect basic reform in the
governmental and private institutions that have major impact
on the lives of veterans. Finally, VVAF is working to
insure that the lessons that have been learned in the
Vietnam experience are considered as future decisions in
foreign and defense policies are made.
Mr. Devine
- 2 -
July 19, 1982
We created an organization just to focus on Vietnam
veterans because of the special needs created by the
extraordinary nature of the war and its aftermath. Since
the Civil War, no domestic or foreign undertaking has caused
such division among Americans as the Vietnam war. Most
Americans have viewed serious discussion of the war and its
consequences as the equivalent of opening a Pandora's box.
The nation has, as a whole, yet to come to terms with a cru-
cial decade of recent history.
Because most Americans avoid working through the war and
its meaning, most Vietnam veterans also avoid it. Legacies
of Vietnam: Comparative Adjustment of Veterans and their
Peers, the exhaustive national study commissioned from the
Center for Policy Research by the Veterans Administration,
and released in March, 1981, confirms this. They state that
"the majority of Vietnam veterans in our sample-about two-
thirds--have not probed their experience very deeply. It is
fair to say that most of the working through of this war is
yet to be done."
The study also confirmed VVAF's observation that even
those who have successfully readjusted to society were nega-
tively affected by this reluctance to delve deeply into
their war experiences. The researchers report that,
"throughout the country, however, we find Vietnam veterans
who appear at first to be untroubled, only to reveal on
closer scrutiny that they are trying to avoid issues that
may actually disturb them."
Some of those issues arise from the nature of the combat
experience and the age of the combatants. In World War II,
the average age of American combat troops was 26, and
average exposure to enemy fire was 6 weeks. In Vietnam, a
U.S. soldier's average age was 19, and combat exposure was
fully 52 weeks.
After World War II, troops returned home in ships, accom-
panied by their comrades, taking two weeks or more to reach
the United States. When they arrived home they were greeted
literally by brass bands and cheering crowds. Those
returning from military service in Vietnam often flew from
battlefield to hometown in less than 48 hours, with other
soldiers who were strangers to them. If they were greeted
at all it was with jeers and deprecating remarks.
Mr. Devine
- 3 -
July 19, 1982
Of the 2,800,000 Americans who saw duty in Vietnam, over
57,000 died. Although medical care in the field was more
advanced than in previous wars, over 300,000 did not comple-
tely recover from their wounds and are permanently disabled.
Those are the obvious and recognizable casualties of the war.
Other physical consequences have been more difficult to
establish. The most controversial issue has been the
question of possible long-term health effects of the use of
herbicides in Vietnam.
During the years 1962 through 1970, 12,000,000 gallons
of a defoliant, referred to as "Agent Or ange", were sprayed
throughout South Vietnam to deny the enemy food and cover.
The defoliant contained a chemical, a particular dioxin,
called TCDD.
Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange are now suf-
fering from a series of symptoms that seem to be related to
that exposure. The symptoms include: an acne-type rash
called chloracne, liver dysfunction, cancer, sexual dysfune-
tioning and disorders of the nervous system. Children of
those subjected to this exposure have suffered polygenetie
birth defects. They most commonly include open spines,
holes in the interior walls of the heart, cleft palates, and
in rare instances, flipperlike arms, lack of anal openings
or vaginal openings and deformed or missing penises.
There are other physical problems unique to Vietnam ser-
vice. They are related to: other herbicides used in
Vietnam (such as Agent Blue, having a high arsenic content);
dapsone (an anti-malarial drug with adverse side effects
reported in scientific literature); aflatoxin (a natural
toxin that sometimes occurs in rice in Southeast Asia);
Meliodosis (a sometimes life-threatening disease caused by
bacteria native to Southeast Asia); as well as drug and/or
alcohol use among soldiers.
Drug and alcohol abuse are, of course, also related to
the negative psychological effects of the war. The Center
for Policy Research study revealed that 41% of returning
combat veterans were found to have persisting psychological,
or drug or related problems. Other statistical surveys show
that the suicide rate for Vietnam veterans is historically
higher than for their non-veteran peer group. Vietnam
"combat veterans have a higher arrest rate,' and are "the
most frequently convicted,' according to the Center for
Policy Research study.
Mr. Devine
- 4 -
July 19, 1982
Perhaps the most significant indicator of the psychological
burden left by the war is that between 700,000 and 800,000
are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Dr. John Wilson, of the Department of Psychology of
Cleveland State University is the pioneer researcher on the
effects of Vietnam service on delayed stress syndrome. He
describes PTSD in this way:
"PTSD is a dynamic survivor response to
the catastrophic stressors experienced in
the war and to the intense social
stressors after it. The symptoms which
define the PTSD syndrome among Vietnam
veterans are virtually identical to those
observed among the survivors of the ato-
mic blast at Hiroshima, Korean P.O.W
camps, the Nazi holocaust and the Buffalo
Creek Dam disaster.
Specifically, however, the symptoms of
PTSD among Vietnam veterans include such
characteristics as: psychic or emotional
numbing or anesthesia; depression--
feelings of helplessness, apathy, dejec-
tion, withdrawal, isolation; anger--rage,
hostility; anxiety--and specific fears
associated with combat experiences
Having been in combat also has an effect on the economic
well-being of Vietnam veterans. Legacies of Vietnam.
concluded "that military duty in Vietnam had a negative
effect on post-military achievement."
In regard to education, the study found that 53% of com-
bat veterans did not return to school following their
discharge, as opposed to 31% of non-combat veterans.
Comparing veterans with nonveterans of the same peer groups,
nearly half of all non-veterans have graduated from college,
while only slightly more than a fifth of the veterans have.
One-third of the non-veterans have gone on to graduate or
professional schools, but only one-tenth of their veteran
peers have done so.
Unemployment and underemployment are also residual
effects of the war. The unemployment rate has been histori-
cally higher for veterans than for their non-veteran peers.
As to underemployment, the Legacies of Vietnam study
revealed that "In the competition for high level jobs, non-
veterans are markedly more successful than veterans. Among
veterans, era veterans are somewhat more successful than
Vietnam veterans."
Mr. Devine
-5-
July 19, 1982
A special concern of Vietnam Veterans of America has
been the fact that racial and ethnic minorities carried a
disproportionately large share of the burden during the
Vietnam war, and have suffered even more than other veterans
the consequences of serving in that war. For instance, the
Center for Policy Research report revealed that, "the
unemployment rate of black veterans, however, was three
times that of white veterans." Unemployment was especially
high among black veterans who served in Vietnam. Legacies
of Vietnam also concluded that "black veterans are much more
likely than white veterans to hold secondary (undesirable
and insecure) jobs or entry-level priority jobs."
The same report also found differences in the long term
stress reactions to the war. The Center for Policy Research
says that "blacks and Chicanos were more stressed than
whites; being in Vietnam was as stressful for blacks as
being in combat for whites."
One group of veterans whose needs have been almost
totally ignored are the women who served in Vietnam. An
example of their official invisibility is the fact that the
otherwise extremely useful and authoritative study quoted
above, Legacies of Vietnam: Comparative Adjustment of
Veterans and their Peers, did not examine the war experien-
ces of women at all. When a U.S. Senator requested infor-
mation on the number of women who served in Vietnam, the
Assistant Secretary of Defense said, "While the new numbers
are substantially higher than those provided previously, no
one can assure you whether this is a complete listing."
Irrespective of their numbers, communication with VVA mem-
bers who are women and other women veterans indicate that
many of them have the same problems with readjustment, Agent
Orange and post-traumatic stress disorders that trouble male
veterans.
In response to these needs, we have developed a national
organization with offices in Washington, D.C. and New York,
N.Y. We have members and other contributors in all 50 sta-
tes, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The members
are organized into 17 chapters in 13 states.
Some examples of the services provided through those
structures are:
1. Providing direct services to Vietnam veteran victims
of exposure to Agent Orange and other herbicides
through a toll-free "800" number, news articles,
public service announcements, mailings, direct coun-
seling and referrals;
Mr. Devine
- 6 -
July 19, 1982
2. Stimulating the Veterans Administration to improve
their service to Agent Orange victims through moni-
toring, litigation and research;
3. Dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders and
other psychological problems affecting Vietnam
veterans through helping to create and retain the
system of Vet Centers, through amicus curiae briefs
in court cases, direct counseling, referrals and
training for mental health professionals;
4. Working with the Small Business Administration, the
Labor Department, and local VVA chapters to improve
the economic status of Vietnam veterans;
5. Making special efforts to deal with the needs of
women and minorities who served in Vietnam;
6. Reaching out to incarcerated veterans through the
formation of chapters in prisons, litigation, work
with parole boards and employment counselors;
7. Stimulating coverage in major national and local
media such as The New York Times, Newsweek and CBS;
8.
Assisting artists and performers in creating and
presenting films (such as Coming Home) , plays (such
as "Ten Good Men"), books (Everything We Had) and
concerts (such as one by Bruce Springsteen), which
open channels of communication between those who
went to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war and
those who did not; and
9. Using the network of VVA chapters to provide peer
support to Vietnam veterans and a focus for contact
with the public and institutions that affect
veterans' lives.
One of the major continuing service efforts of Vietnam
Veterans of America Foundation has been related to assisting
veterans exposed to Agent Orange. In 1980, we began a
nationwide effort to reach Vietnam veterans concerned about
Agent Orange through a toll-free "800" number. Outreach is
conducted through news stories, public service announ-
cements and special mailings.
Mr. Devine
- 7 -
July 19, 1982
The results have been overwhelming. In the first three
weeks alone, over 4,000 veterans contacted the Outreach
Project. Various media provided endorsements. A major
Associated Press story ran in papers across the country,
including The New York Times. Major regional papers like
Newsday, The Detroit Free Press and The Cleveland Plain
Dealer, did special stories on the subject. Radio and tele-
vision stations tested the system with blind calls, suc-
ceeded, and then carried their own Public Service
Announcements describing it.
Three months before we started this program and three
years after the first stories began to appear, Max Cleland,
then Administrator of the Veterans Administration, appeared
before the House Veterans Affairs Committee to announce
that the Veterans Administration had an Agent Orange
Screening Program at Veterans Administration medical cen-
ters. The program consisted mainly of a physical exam with
the emphasis placed on skin disorders, liver dysfunctions
and possible tumors. But in his testimony, Mr. Cleland said
that less than 10,000 veterans had taken advantage of it.
In September of 1980, just five months after Vietnam
Veterans of America established the hotline, Mr. Clel and
once again appeared before Congress and testified that
30,000 veterans had contacted the Veterans Administration
either for an Agent Orange exam or for information about
Agent Orange. Because of the national outreach program of
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and statewide
outreach programs, the number of people using this service
dramatically increased. The figure is now well over 75,000.
VVA has also worked to increase the awareness of pro-
fessional therapists of the special psychological needs of
Vietnam veterans. Frequent speaking engagements, the orga-
nization of seminars and assistance in research design are
among those efforts.
An illustration was our Back in the World Program in
1980. This program extended the work of an existing highly
successful experimental program to achieve the following:
(1) establish a direct outreach program to Vietnam veterans,
(2) provide direct therapeutic services to local Vietnam
veterans, (3) provide community education and involvement
concerning the nature and consequences of problems faced by
these individuals, (4) further the development of an effec-
tive treatment model for Vietnam veterans, and (5) educate
the professional community in the analysis and therapeutic
response to these problems.
Mr. Devine
- 8 -
July 19, 1982
Although this program was limited to veterans in the
Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, it has proved to be a
useful model for the service programs of our local chapters,
the Veterans Administration and other service providers. It
has also given us some local resources for referral of
Vietnam veterans who call or come into our offices. Much see
p.6,atch
P.
staff time is spent in responding to those inquiries, as
many veterans feel VVA is the only sympatheti resource
available.
In August, 1981, the Veterans Administration officially
accredited Vietnam Veterans of America as a veterans service
organization. This accreditation gives us official status
along with other veterans groups to represent veterans in
making claims and obtaining services from the Veterans
Administration.
Each veterans service organization is given office space
in regional facilities of the Veterans Administration. The
representatives of the service organization develop exper-
tise in such things as admission to VA hospitals, making
claims for disability, appeals procedures for denied claims,
and referrals to veterans service centers and private
programs useful to veterans.
Having representatives of VVA performing such functions
is a major boon to Vietnam veterans. In the first instance,
any increase in the number of service representatives is
useful to all veterans, as it will enable more of them to
receive assistance more quickly. More importantly, there
have been many instances in which veterans organizations not
specifically focused on Vietnam veterans have failed to
recognize the special needs of Vietnam veterans.
It is also very clear to us and to other service provi-
ders that many Vietnam veterans will accept service delivery
only from other Vietnam veterans. The services we provide
at the national level and through our local chapters are
therefore often the only ones useful to those veterans.
Those local chapters have been the major vehicle we have
used to address the employment needs of Vietnam veterans.
The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation first turned its
attention to the federal government in attempting to deal
with this issue. However, most government job programs
targeted toward Vietnam veterans have had disappointing
results at best. In January, 1977, it was promised that 35%
of new CETA jobs would go to Vietnam veterans; the actual
figure attained was 7%. A HIRE program was put into effect
with the goal of creating 100,000 jobs for veterans in pri-
vate industry; nearly two years after its announcement, only
136 jobs had been created. A $20,000,000 Outreach program
found jobs for only 500 of 21,000 jobless veterans who were
seriously disabled.
Mr. Devine
- 9 -
July 19, 1982
We have not abandoned entirely our hopes that national
efforts will be useful, but given the results to date, the
current economic situation and a trend toward ending or
severely limiting such programs, we have turned our atten-
tion to the local level. Several local chapters, such as
the one in Rochester, N.Y., have achieved a remarkable pla-
cement rate through low cost programs, or no-cost peer coun-
seling. The networks formed through contact with other
veterans who have been successful in business have also
proved useful for Vietnam veteran job seekers.
One of the reasons we feel such volunteer efforts can be
effective is the experience with the Targeted Technical
Assistance Program (TTA). TTA was designed and strongly
supported by VVA to increase veterans participation in CETA.
It had a very low cost per placement relative to other CETA
programs. It was more effective because most Vietnam
veterans only need counseling and peer reinforcement while
other targeted groups of the unemployed often need extensive
(and expensive) training.
The Rochester chapter is also a good example of the wide
variety of services provided at the local level through
affiliates of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.
In addition to employment counseling, they provide marital
and family counseling for Vietnam veterans. They also work
with veterans who have problems with substance abuse.
In dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other
psychological problems, the Rochester chapter provides the
facilities and outside professional assistance for peer
counseling groups of both men and women. They are also
involved in informing community professionals, the social
services system, and the criminal justice system about PTSD.
With regard to incarcerated veterans, the Rochester
program includes counseling inside local jails and prisons.
They are also involved in job counseling with prisoners
prior to their release, and work with parolees and their
parole officers.
Other service activities of the Rochester chapter
involve assisting Vietnam veterans in their relationships
with the Veterans Administration and the military.
Information assistance on Agent Orange, ręview of less than
honorable discharges and filing benefit claims are among
those services.
Mr. Devine
- 10 -
July 19, 1982
Finally, the Rochester chapter has developed an
excellent working relationship with community social service
agencies. They make referrals and have referrals made to
them where appropriate.
The Columbus, Ohio chapter has a similar rapport with
the social service groups in their community. They have
done extensive research on over 80% of the providers in
Columbus to determine which ones are appropriate for
referral.
The Columbus chapter also has a Vietnam Veterans Career
Development Program. They have interview workshops, assist
in resume preparation, make direct referrals and conduct
other specialized training for unemployed veterans.
They also perform the pre-screening necessary to make
the State of Ohio system for service to Agent Orange victims
work efficiently. In addition, the Columbus chapter provi-
des the same type of assistance with the Veterans
Administration and the military as the Rochester chapter
Their work with prisoners and parolees is also very
similar to the Rochester chapter services. One additional
service unique to Columbus is consumer credit counseling.
This service is provided by a representative of another
Columbus group working in the Columbus VVA office.
Not all chapters have the same range and depth of ser-
vices as these two chapters provide to Vietnam veterans, as
some are very new. But all of them provide at least some
service described in Section 950.101 (a) (3). All of them
are working with us to expand the range of their services.
Our aim both nationally and locally is to provide as much of
the service needs of Vietnam veterans as possible through
our own efforts to promote self-help and reduce dependence
on government funds.
Mr. Devine
- 11 -
July 19, 1982
Most of the services already described would fall under
Section 950.101 (a) (3) (ix). Clearly many of the veterans
receive "treatment, care, rehabilitation, and counseling..."
and would be described variously as .criminals, released
convicts, persons who abuse drugs or alcohol, persons who
are otherwise in need of social adjustment and rehabilita-
tion, and the families of such persons."
It is also clear that Section 950.101 (a) (3) (x) would
apply, as many Vietnam veterans served by us are still mem-
bers of the armed forces.
I
Section 950.101 (a) (xi) covers those chapters which
provide marriage counseling.
Section 950.101 (a) (3) (xii) applies to the referral
services provided both by the national group and the
chapters.
1
Finally, Section 950.101 (a) (3) (xiv) covers most of
our service activity as it reduces the work load of the
Veterans Administration's Vet Centers.
Our board of directors has met at least monthly and
often more frequently since our origin. They are all acti-
vely involved in the work of the Vietnam Veterans of America
Foundation.
This letter is accompanied by the folowing attachments:
1. IRS. exemption letter.
2. Current chapter list.
3. Board of Directors list.
4. Certification of compliance with accounting standards.
5. Statement of compliance with SCFR 950.
6. 1982 Annual Report.
7. Audited financial statement.
8. Consolidated national chapter financial report.
If additional is required, please call me immediately.
We look forward to participation in the Combined Federal
Campaign.
John Sincerely, F. Tengano, Terzano
Director
Washington Office
JT/lv
Attachments
29498
Federal Register / Vol. 47, No. 129 / Tuesday. July 6, 1982 / Rules and Regulations
Committee as duplicative of the function
Sec.
(vi) Education. training. care and relief
of the PCFOs.
950.307 Definition of terms used in Federal
of physcially and mentally handicapped
OPM appreciates the concern and
arrangements.
persons:
effort shown by those commenters who,
950.309 Federated and overseas campaigns.
(vii) Delivery of legal services to the
as a result of close analysis of the
950.311 Off-the-job solicitation at places of
poor and indigent. and defense of
proposed rules, provided detailed
employment.
human and civil rights secured by law:
comments and suggestions aimed at
Subpart D-Eligibility Requirements for
(viii) Relief of victims of crime war,
helping OPM develop rules which would
National Voluntary Agencies
casualty. famine, natural disasters. and
be as fair as possible to all parties and
950.401 Purpose.
other catastrophes;
be able to be efficiently administered by
950.403 General requirements for national
(ix) Treatment. care. rehabilitation,
the Federal Government.
agencies.
950.405 Specific requirements.
and counseling of juvenile delinquents,
E.O. 12291, Federal Regulation
950.407 Application requirements.
criminals. released convicts. persons
950.409 Public announcement of recognized
who abuse drugs or alcohol. persons
OPM has determined that this is not a
agencies and assigned periods.
who are otherwise in need of social
major rule for the purposes of E.O.
Appendix A-Source of Funds and Costs
adjustment and rehabilitation. and the
12291. Federal Regulation.
Report.
families of such persons:
Regulatory Flexibility Act
Appendix B-Certificate.
(x) Assistance, consistent with the
Subpart E-The Local Combined Federal
mission of the Department of Defense. to
I certify that this regulation will not
Campaign
members of the armed forces and their
have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. The
950.501 Authorized local voluntary
families:
agencies.
(xi) Protection of families in short or
nominal costs to voluntary agencies,
950.503 Participation in Federal campaigns
long-term need of family and child care
which are primarily associated with
by local affiliated agencies.
services. child and marriage counseling.
developing the initial application. are
950.505 Responsibility of local Federal
foster care. and management and
essentially the same as under current
coordinating committees.
maintenance of the home;
procedures.
950.507 Local CFC plan.
950.509 Organizing the local campaign: The
(xii) Neighborhood and community-
List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 950
Principal Combined Fund Organization.
wide services which assist the needy as
Government employees. Charitable
950.511 Basic local CFC ground rules.
part of the whole community. including
contributions.
950.513 Contributions.
provision of emergency relief and
950.515 Dollar goals.
shelter. recreation. safety.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
950.517 Suggested giving guides and
transportation. and the preparation or
Donald J. Devine,
voluntary giving.
delivery of meals;
Director.
950.519 Central receipt and accounting for
(xiii) Information and counseling with
Accordingly. the Office of Personnel
contributions.
respect to the obtaining of any of the
Management amends 5 CFR by adding
950.521 Campaign and publicity materials.
950.523 Payroll withholding.
foregoing services; or
new Part 950 to read as follows:
930.525 National coordination and reporting.
(xiv) Lessening the burdens of
PART 950-SOLICITATION OF
Authority: E.O. 12353
government with respect to the
provisions of any of the foregoing
FEDERAL CIVILIAN AND UNIFORMED
Subpart A-Administration and
services.
SERVICE PERSONNEL FOR
General Provisions
(b) Campaign terms:
CONTRIBUTIONS TO PRIVATE
950.101 Definitions.
"Director" shall mean the Director of
VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATION
For purposes of this Part:
the United States Office of Personnel
Subpart A-Administration and General
(a) The term "national voluntary
Management, or his delegate:
Provisions
health and welfare agencies and such
"Employee" shall mean any person
Sec.
other national voluntary agencies as
employed by the government of the
950.101 Definitions.
may be appropriate" means national
United States or any branch. unit. or
950.103 Summary description of the
entities that:
instrumentality thereof. including
program.
(1) Meet all eligiblity requirements
persons in the civil service and in the
950.105 Federal policy on civic activity.
established in this Part, except as
uniform services:
950.107 Preventing coercive activity.
limited hereinafter.
"Combined Federal Campaign" or
(2) Are not "action" organizations
"Campaign" or "CFC" shall mean the
Subpart B-Organization and Functional
Responsibilities
within the meaning of 26 CFR 1.501(c)
fund-raising program established and
(3)-1(c) (3) and are eligible to receive
administered by the Director pursuant to
950.201 Development of policy and
procedures.
tax deductible contributions under 26
Executive Order 12353, and any
950.203 Program administration.
U.S.C. 170; and
subsidiary units of such program:
950.205 Program coordination.
(3) Provide or substantially support
"Community" shall mean a
950.207 Local voluntary agency
one or more of the following services:
community that is defined either by
representatives.
(i) Relief of needy. poor or indigent
generally recognized geographic bounds
950.209 Local Federal agency heads.
children and of orphans. including
or by its relationship to an isolated
950.211 Local Federal coordinating
adoption services:
government installation:
committees.
(ii) Relief of needy. poor or indigent
"Direct Contributions" shall mean
950.213 Avoidance of conflicts of interest.
adults: and of the elderly:
gifts. in cash or in donated in-kind
Subpart C-Campaign Arrangements for
(iii) Delivery of health care to the
material. given by individuals and/or
Voluntary Agencies
needy. poor. indigent. ill or infirm:
other non-governmental sources directly
950.301 Types of voluntary agencies.
(iv) Education and training of
to the spending health and welfare
950.303 Types of fund-raising methods.
personnel for the delivery of health care
organization.
950.305 Considerations in making Federal
to the needy. poor and indigent:
"Indirect Contributions" shall mean
arrangements.
(v) Health research:
gifts. in cash or in donated in-kind
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation
ИЛАФ
329 Eighth Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002
(202) 546-3700
VIETNAM VETERANS
OF AMERICA FOUNDATION:
AIMS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
JUNE 1982
04
Vietnam Veterans of America was created in 1978 to help a new group of immigrants
find a home in America. From 1964 to 1975 they came in a steady stream from serving
their country in Vietnam but often found the kind of hostile or indifferent reception
that other unwelcome immigrants have found. Like their predecessors, many of these
immigrants found it necessary to deny their heritage and become Americans without a
past, fading into the long line of seekers after the American Dream. Many have
realized that dream and many have not, but most have recognized a need to acknowledge
their heritage-to come to terms with both the pride and the pain of military service
for the United States in Vietnam.
Vietnam Veterans of America is a national organization exclusively devoted to the
welfare of Vietnam era veterans. (Vietnam era veterans are those who served in the
U. S. armed forces from 1964 to 1975.) It has four purposes. The first is to provide
mechanisms through which Vietnam veterans can develop positive identification with
their Vietnam service and with their peers who served with them. The second is to
deal with the physical, psychological and economic consequences of the war for
Vietnam veterans. The third is to effect basic reform in the governmental and pri-
vate institutions that have major impact on the lives of veterans. Finally, VVA is
working to insure that the lessons that have been learned in the Vietnam experience
are considered as future decisions in foreign and defense policy are made. This
paper will discuss the issues we feel are important to address in each category, pro-
vide examples of our work to date in dealing with those issues and our future plans.
I. COMING HOME
Since the Civil War no domestic or foreign undertaking has caused such division
among Americans as the Vietnam War. Most Americans have viewed serious discussion of
the war and its consequences as the equivalent of opening a Pandora's box. The
nation has, as a whole, yet to come to terms with a crucial decade of recent history.
Because most Americans avoid working through the war and its meaning, most
Vietnam veterans also avoid it. Legacies of Vietnam: Comparative Adjustment of
Veterans and Their Peers, the exhaustive national study commissioned from the Center
For Policy Research by the Veterans Administration, and released in March 1981, con-
firms this. They state that, "the majority of Vietnam veterans in our sample-
about two-thirds-have not probed their experience very deeply. It is fair to say
that most of the working through of this war is yet to be done."
The study also confirmed VVA's observation that even those who have successfully
readjusted to society were negatively affected by this reluctance to delve deeply
into their war experiences. The researchers report that, "throughout the country,
however, we find Vietnam veterans who appear at first to be untroubled, only to
reveal on closer scrutiny that they are trying to avoid issues that may actually
disturb them."
Our task in addressing these problems is twofold. We must educate the public on
the special needs and concerns of Vietnam veterans and stimulate them to consider the
war and its consequences. We must make it possible for more Vietnam veterans to work
through wer experiences. Our other work greatly depends on success in these tasks.
Much of our attention has been placed on getting the media to focus some of the
coverage lavished on the war to its aftermath. By any measure, of either quantity or
quality, WE have been quite successful and expect to continue to be. Numerous
articles have appeared and will continue to appear in The New York Times, Washington
Post, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times,
- 2 -
Detroit Free Press, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Constitution, Cleveland Plain Dealer,
Houston Chronicle, and other newspapers. Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World
Report have all had major features on Vietnam veterans.
With broadcast media, VVA has had representatives on Today, Good Morning America,
the Phil Donahue Show, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, CBS Morning News, 20/20,
and numerous local radio and television outlets. Mike Wallace of 60-Minutes accom-
panied the VVA delegation to Vietnam in May 1982 and will be producing several
segments for broadcast in the fall of 1982.
Much progress in public understanding of veterans and their issues has come
through our work with artists, film makers, actors, playwrights, directors, painters,
photographers, writers and others. One example of this activity is the instrumental
role VVA has played in the origin and success of the Veterans Ensemble Theatre
Company (VETCO). VETCO is a nonprofit group of professional theatre artists, most of
whom are veterans of the Vietnam War. As a repertory company, VETCO presents produc-
tions of plays, both classical and contemporary, aimed at opening channels of com-
munication between those who went to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War and those
who did not.
The company also generates new works, including those of its own members. One of
the most important theatrical producers in America, Joseph Papp of the New York
Shakespeare Festival, has been a strong supporter of this aspect of VETCO work. Mr.
Papp has demonstrated this support through supporting a VETCO production, "Ten Good
Men," by John Sedlek. He also accompanied the VVA delegation to Vietnam and has
indicated future support for VETCO's work.
Aside from providing much of the original funding for initiating VETCO, VVA has
been directly involved in theatrical productions. We co-produced with Mr. Papp a
retrospective of plays about Vietnam entitled, "From 'Hair' to Dispatches" in 1979.
Terri Garr, Melba Moore, Robert Alan Ackerman, and Elizabeth Swados were among the
artists participating as volunteers in this critically acclaimed performance.
VVA has also provided crucial technical assistance in the production of the
general release film, Coming Home. VVA also initiated and owns the copyright to the
project that resulted in the publication by Random House of an oral history of the
war by 33 Vietnam veterans entitled, Everything We Had.
Musicians have also worked with Vietnam Veterans of America to place the emo-
tional issue of Vietnam and its veterans before the American people in a way that is
immediate and visceral. Bruce Springsteen, Pat Benatar and the Charlie Daniels Band
have all performed benefit concerts for VVA in 1981 that have also been quite helpful
in fundraising. These artists and others will probably continue to work with us in
the future. At present, for instance, several hundred radio stations are broad-
casting public service announcements for VVA recorded by Leon Everett and Bruce
Springsteen.
The concerts also have begun the process of bridging the gap between veterans and
those of their generation who did not serve in the military. An example in the
report of the Springsteen concert in the October 1, 1981 issue of Rolling Stone they
quote Springsteen as saying:
- 3 -
"It's like when you're walking down a dark street
at night, and out of the corner of your eye you
see somebody getting hurt in a dark alley. But
you keep walking on because you think it don't
have nothing to do with you and you just want to
get home. Vietnam turned this whole country into
that dark street, and unless we can walk down
those dark alleys and look into the eyes of those
men and women, we're never gonna get home."
VVA has also promoted and assisted ceremonial recognition of the sacrifices of
Vietnam veterans. The impetus for Vietnam Veterans' Week in 1979 came from VVA ini-
tiatives with Congress. The presence of 400 veterans at a White House ceremony was
extremely important symbolically. Those celebrations also gave birth to the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial, whose dedication in the fall of 1982 will be the occasion for
additional public events. Many local and state VVA chapters have inspired establish-
ment of numerous memorials and occasions for public recognition.
All of these activities help bring the war home and bring veterans home from the
war. To be effective in the long term, however, they must have a solid base in the
communities where veterans live. Therefore, VVA has built, and will continue to
build, a system of local and statewide chapters. At present there are 58 local chap-
ters in 21 states. Three of those states have state councils and eight more will be
formed by the summer of 1982.
VVA members come from a wide spectrum of income levels, political beliefs, reli-
gions, professions and ethnic groups and often have as difficult a time as other
Americans in reaching a concensus. But, in the process of organizing a successful
chapter, they must find a community of interest. That process allows many members to
come to terms with their Vietnam experience. Local chapters become support groups
and provide the kind and quality of caring concern that cannot be found elsewhere.
II. ADDRESSING THE WAR'S CONSEQUENCES
The development of chapters is also an integral part of our efforts aimed at
accomplishing our second purpose-addressing the physical, psychological and economic
consequences of the war for Vietnam veterans. This is because national organizations
which represent their constituencies effectively over the long term must have a coor-
dinated national, regional, and local structure. Groups which have a large national
membership often are effective in securing changes favorable to that membership
through legislation, litigation, administrative or regulatory change or other actions
by national governmental or private organizations. However, if there is no well
established regional and local structure, those national victories become less useful
over time for two reasons. First, implementation of decisions quite often occurs at
the local level and if pressure is not exerted locally, the effect of the change is
sometimes not felt at all, or only minimally. Secondly, efforts that are made to
alter or repeal the original decision can be most effectively defended if grass roots
support is quickly and easily mobilized.
- 4 -
Vigorous local chapters can also ensure that the national organization keeps clo-
sely in touch with its constituency. Local chapters can also sometimes achieve
changes or innovation in local and state governments and private organizations that
can be used a models for later national changes. Some local VVA chapters have
already developed such pioneering programs. In the description of our work in
addressing the consequences of the war that follow, there will be illustrations of
some of those programs.
Reference will also be made to our work with Congress. Much of our success in
advancing the interests of Vietnam veterans legislatively has come from our ini-
tiative in stimulating the creation of Vietnam Veterans in Congress. Formed in 1978
through the efforts of VVA, Representative David Bonior (D-MI) and Representative
John Murtha (D-PA) this bipartisan caucus now has 29 members in the House and five
in the Senate.
Binding the Wounds
Of the 2,800,000 Americans who saw duty in Vietnam, over 57,000 died. Although
medical care in the field was more advanced than in previous wars, over 300,000 did
not recover from their wounds and are permanently disabled. Those are the obvious
and recognizable causalties of the war.
Other physical consequences have been more difficult to establish. The most
controversial issue has been the question of possible long-term health effects of the
use of herbicides in Vietnam.
During the years 1962 through 1970, 12,000,000 gallons of a defoliant, referred
to as "Agent Orange" (2,4,5-T), were sprayed throughout South Vietnam to deny the
enemy food and cover. The defoliant contained a chemical, a particular dioxin called
TCDD.
Studies in the late 1960's and through the 1970's had found TCDD to be one of, if
not the single, most toxic chemicals known to man. Its extensive use throughout
Vietnam may, in the end, be the largest environmental catastrophe of the "chemical
age."
Scientific research throughout the last decade has recently led the Environmental
Protection Agency to use, for the first time, the Emergency Suspension Order, its
most powerful remedial tool, to remove defoliants containing dioxin from the domestic
market, without prior notice to manufacturers.
The dr amatic EPA action gives American citizens significant new protection
against future harms, but it leaves untouched the fundamental question of what to do
about individuals who have been exposed to it and are now suffering from the health
consequences of that exposure. Frighteningly, Agent Orange, the military defoliant,
not only contained much more TCDD than the defoliant that has been recently used in
America, but according to a 1978 Air Force study, it was applied in much higher con-
centrations than the domestic agricultural spraying.
- 5 -
The Veterans Administration estimates that 2.4 million veterans served in Vietnam
during the years Agent Orange was used. The General Accounting Office recently
concluded that nearly ten percent of a randomly selected population studies were
either in the area of spraying or there within four weeks. Further, it was recently
admitted that some ninety Air Force Missions, aborted for various reasons, simply
dumped their lethal cargoes of Agent Orange on our own troops. The final figures on
these incidents are yet to be established.
Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange are now suffering from a series of
symptoms that seem to be related to that exposure. The symptoms include: an acne-
type rash called chloracne; liver dysfunction; cancer; sexual dysfunctioning and
disorders of the nervous system. Children of men subjected to this exposure have
suffered polygenetic birth defects. They most commonly include open spines, holes in
the interior walls of the heart, cleft palates, and in rare instances, flipper arms,
lack of anal openings or vaginal openings and deformed or missing penises.
Despite these horrible consequences, the Veterans Administration delayed
recognizing the dimensions of the problem and avoided taking serious measures until
forced by publicity or pressure. One example of that was VVA testifying before the
House Interstate Commerce Committee in 1979 as the lead-off witness in the first
major hearings on Agent Orange.
At first the VA was grudging in its admission of the scientific uncertainties of
this issue and unbending in its outright dismissal of nearly all Agent Orange claims
filed by individual veterans. While the VA told Congress it would give "careful and
sympathetic consideration" to veterans' claims of herbicide-caused illnesses, the
experience of veterans presenting Agent Orange complaints at VA facilities was almost
uniformly bad.
Veterans were poorly received and told that the issue was phony. They were given
less than the prescribed series of tests. Over half the Vietnam veterans questions
in two separate surveys had negative or hostile attitudes toward the VA.
The Veterans Administration's attempts to deny and belittle the needs of veterans
in this area forced us to devote major resources to Agent Orange programs. One area
in which we have had, and will continue to have, a large impact is in outreach.
In May 1980 we began a nationwide effort to reach Vietnam veterans concerned
about Agent Orange through a toll-free "800" number. Outreach was conducted. through
news stories, public service announcements and special mailings.
The results were overwhelming. In the first three weeks alone over 4,000
veterans contacted the Outreach Project. The various media provided various endor-
sements. A major AP story ran in papers across the country, including The New York
Times. Major regional papers, like Newsday, The Detroit Free Press and The
Cleveland Plain Dealer, did special stories on the subject. Radio and television
stations tested the system with blind calls, succeeded, and then carried their own
Public Service Announcements describing it.
- 6 -
Three months before we started this program and three years after the first
stories began to appear, Max Cleland, then Administrator of the Veterans
Administration, appeared before the House Veterans Affairs Committee to announce that
the Veterans Administration had an Agent Orange Screening Program at Veterans
Administration medical centers. The program consisted mainly of a physical exam with
emphasis placed on skin disorders, liver dysfunctions and possible tumors. But, in
his testimony, Mr. Cleland said that less than 10,000 veterans had taken advantage
of it.
In September of 1980, just five months after Vietnam Veterans of America
established the hotline, Mr. Cleland once again appeared before Congress and
testified that 30,000 veterans had contacted the Veterans Administration either for
an Agent Orange exam or for information about Agent Orange. Because of the national
outreach program of the Vietnam Veterans of America and state-wide outreach programs
such as in Minnesota, the number of people using this service more than doubled. The
figure is now well over 75,000.
VVA has also continued to monitor the actions of the Veterans Administration and
Congress on Agent Orange issues, encouraged additional media coverage and assisted in
the litigation efforts of the National Veterans Law Center and others. These efforts
have begun to bear fruit. The responsiveness of the VA to individual veterans
requesting assistance for Agent Orange-related problems has improved significantly.
In addition, VVA pressure has resulted in the creation of the Agent Orange Work Group
of the Cabinet Council on Human Resources. They are coordinating several major stu-
dies on personnel involved in handling and spraying Agent Orange, on birth defects
among veterans' children, U. S. ground troops and other issues. VVA is either par-
ticipating or monitoring mcst of that research.
Directly related to those efforts is the remarkable agreement VVA reached with
the government of Vietnam in the trip our delegation made in December 1981. That
agreement, made in meetings with the Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach and other
government officials will allow for scientific research on the effects of Agent
Orange on the Vietnamese people and environment. If such research can be
accomplished it will provide a vital complement to the studies currently underway
domestically. The Vietnam Science Council, under the leadership of Leslie Platt,
former legal advisor to the Agent Orange Work Group, and Joan Bernstein, former
General Counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services, has been established
by Vietnam Veterans of America as an independent, nonprofit scientific body to deter-
mine the feasibility of such research and to see that it is satisfactorily under-
taken.
We will also continue our efforts to uncover the causes of other physical
problems of Vietnam veterans. Some of these are: other herbicides used in Vietnam
(such as Agent Blue with a high arsenic content); dapsone (an anti-malarial drug with
adverse side effects reported in scientific literature); aflatoxin (a natural toxin
that sometimes occurs in rice in Southeast Asia); melioidosis (a sometimes life-
threatening disease caused by bacteria native to Southeast Asia); as well as drug
and/or alcohol use among servicemen.
- 7 -
Mental Health
Drug and alcohol abuse are, of course, also related to the negative psychological
effects of the war. The Center For Policy Research study revealed that 41% of
returning combat veterans were found to have persisting psychological, drug or
related problems. Other statistical surveys show that the suicide rate for Vietnam
veterans is historically higher than for their nonveteran peer group. Vietnam
"combat veterans have a higher arrest rate," and are "the most frequently convicted,"
according to the Center For Policy Research study.
Perhaps the most significant indicator of the psychological burden left by the
war is that between 700,000 and 800,000 are suffering from post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). Dr. John P. Wilson of the Department of Psychology of Cleveland
State University is the pioneer researcher on the effects of Vietnam service on
delayed stress syndrome. He describes PTSD in this way:
PTSD is a dynamic survivor response to the
catastrophic stressors experienced in the
war and to the intense social stressors after
it. The symptoms which define the PTSD
syndrome among Vietnom veterans are virtually
identical to those observed among the sur-
vivors of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima,
Korean P.O.W. camps, the Nazi holocaust and
the Buffalo Creek Dam disaster.
Specifically, however, the symptoms of PTSD
among Vietnam veterans include such charac-
teristics as: psychic or emotional numbing
or anesthesia; depression - feelings of
helplessness, apathy, dejection, withdrawal,
isolation; anger - rage, hostility; anxiety -
and specific fears associated with combat
experiences
As in our work on dealing with the physical consequences of Vietnam service, we
have engaged in direct outreach service, stimulated government action, improved the
research data base and taken legal actions to address the psychological burden borne
by Vietnam veterans.
One example is the program of psychological readjustment counseling run by the
Veterans Administration. This program was passed in 1979 after a long effort by VVA
and others to convince Congress of the need for it. The legislation created the Vet
Centers, storefront offices for counseling and referral outside the VA hospital
system. VVA staff have served as members of the national core faculty for training
Vet Center teams.
In 1981 VVA led the successful tight to keep open the 91 centers, which have
counseled over 52,000 veterans, when the Reagan Administration attempted to eliminate
them as part of the budget cutbacks.
- 8 -
In addition to the overwhelming victory in Congress (380-0 in the House and 98-0
in the Senate) against an Administration that in 1981 was practically invincible in
that arena, we also prevailed in the courts. VVA and eleven members of Congress suc-
cessfully sued to prevent David Stockman of the Office of Management and Budget from
impounding funds for the Vet Centers.
VVA has also worked to increase the awareness of professional therapists of the
special psychological needs of Vietnam veterans. Frequent speaking engagements, the
organization of seminars and assistance in research design are among those efforts.
An illustration was our Back in the World Program in 1980. This program extended
the work of an existing, highly successful experimental program to achieve the
following: (1) establish a direct outreach program to Vietnam veterans; (2) provide
direct therapeutic services to local Vietnam veterans; (3) provide community educa-
tion and involvement concerning the nature and consequences of problems faced by
these individuals; (4) further the development of an effective treatment model for
Vietnam veterans; and (5) educate the professional community in the analysis and
therapeutic response to these problems.
Although this program was limited to veterans in the Washington, D.C. metropoli-
tan area, it has proved to be a useful model for other areas. It has also given us
some local resources for referral of Vietnam veterans who call or come into our offi-
ces. Much essential staff time is spent in responding to those inquiries as many
veterans feel VVA is the only sympathetic resource available.
VVA has also intervened as Amici in criminal cases involving the use of post-
traumatic stress disorders as a defense. Several cases, including U.S.A. V. Peter L.
Krutschewski have established significant precedents useful as guidance to the judi-
cial system.
U. S. District Court Judge D. J. Skinner saw the need for signifcant changes in
the parole system in his decision. He said:
"I have carefully considered the amicus brief
of Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. It may
well be that special consideration should be
given to war veterans who have made great
sacrifices for their country. It seems to
me that if greater 'individualization' is to
be given in such cases than I have already
applied in the case of Mr. Krutschewski, it
should be a matter of national policy, not
randomly case by case."
Reducing Educational and Economic Gaps
Having been in combat also has an effect on the economic well-being of Vietnam
veterans. Legacies of Vietnam, concluded "that military duty in Vietnam had a nega-
tive effect on post-military achievement."
- 9 -
In regard to education, the study found that 53% of combat veterans did not
return to school following their discharge, as opposed to 31% of noncombat veterans.
Comparing veterans with nonveterans of the same peer groups, nearly half of all non-
veterans have graduated from college, while only slightly more than a fifth of the
veterans have. One-third of the nonveterans have gone on to graduate or professional
schools, but only one-tenth of their veteran peers have done so.
Unemployment and underemployment is also a residual effect of the war. The
unemployment rate has been historically higher for veterans than for their nonveteran
peers. As to underemployment, the Legacies of Vietnam survey revealed that, "In the
competition for high-level jobs, nonveterans are markedly more successful than
veterans. Among veterans, era veterans are somewhat more successful than Vietnam
veterans."
VVA first turned its attention to the federal government in attempting to deal
with this issue. However, most government job programs targeted toward Vietnam
veterans have had disappointing results at best. In January, 1977 it was promised
that 35% of new CETA jobs would go to Vietnam veterans: the actual figure attained
was seven percent. A HIRE program was put into effect with the goal of creating
100,000 jobs for veterans in private industry: nearly two years after its announ-
cement, only 136 jobs had been created. A $20,000,000 Outreach program found jobs
for only 500 of 21,000 jobless veterans who were seriously disabled.
We have not abandoned entirely our hopes that national efforts will be useful,
but given the results to date, the declining economy and the successful efforts of
the Reagan Administration to end or severely limit such programs, we have turned our
attention to the local level. Several local VVA chapters, such as the one in
Rochester, New York, have achieved a remarkable placement rate through low-cost or
no-cost peer counseling. The networks formed through contact with other veterans who
have been successful in business have also proved useful for Vietnam veteran job
seekers.
One of the reasons we feel such volunteer efforts can be effective is the
experience with the Targeted Technical Assistance Program (TTA). TTA was designed
and strongly supported by VVA to increase veterans' participation in CETA. It had a
very low cost per placement relative to other CETA programs. It was more effective
because Vietnam veterans only needed counseling and peer reinforcement while other
targeted groups of the unemployed needed extensive (and expensive) training.
VVA has also been active in promoting government support of Vietnam veterans as
entrepreneurs. A law passed in 1974 created the Task Force on Special Consideration
for Veterans in the Small Business Administration, but it was never implemented.
Recause Vietnam Veterans of America has been designated by the Veterans
Administration as a Veteran Service Organization, it became a Task Force member.
Immediately, it asked the Small Business Administration when it intended to comply
with the law, which mandated management assistance, training, loans, loan guarantees
and special consideration to veterans. At a meeting of all representative groups on
September 23, 1981, a Vietnam Veterans of America representative became co-chairman
of the Subcommittee on Management Assistance and Training. As a result, the SBA
Director has signed a directive implementing the law.
- 10
Minority and Women Veterans
A special concern of Vietnam Veterans of America has been the fact that racial
and ethnic minorities carried a disproportionately large share of the burden during
the Vietnam War and have suffered even more than other veterans the consequences of
serving in that war. For instance, the Center For Policy Research report revealed
that, "the unemployment rate of black veterans, however, was three times that of
white veterans. Unemployment was especially high among black veterans who served in
Vietnam." Legacies of Vietnam also concluded that, "black veterans are much more
likely than white veterans to hold secondary (undesirable and insecure) jobs or
entry-level priority jobs."
The same report also found differences in the long-term stress reactions to the
war. The Center For Policy Research says that "blacks and Chicanos were more
stressed than whites; being in Vietnam was as stressful for blacks as being in combat
for whites."
Although we do not believe the types of issues and methods of addressing them are
fundamentally different, VVA feels that it is important to engage in special outreach
to minority Vietnam veterans to deal with the additional burden they carry in regard
to education, employment physical and mental health. We have, and will continue, to
ensure that those needs are emphasized in our research, public information, orga-
nizing, and advocacy efforts.
One group of veterans whose needs have been almost totally ignored are the women
who served in Vietnam. An example of their official invisibility is the fact that
the otherwise extremely useful and authoritative study quoted in this paper,
Legacies of Vietnam: Comparative Adjustment of Veterans and their Peers, did not
examine the war experiences of women at all. When Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
requested information on VVA's behalf on the number of women who served in Vietnam,
the reply came from John Beary, Assistant Secretary of Defense. He said, "While the
new numbers are substantially higher than those provided previously, no one can
assure you whether this is a complete listing."
Irrespective of their numbers, communication with VVA members who are women and
other women veterans indicate that many of them have the same problems with readjust-
ment, Agent Orange and post-traumatic stress disorders that trouble male veterans.
Vietnam Veterans of America is now engaged in special outreach and research programs
that will help give us a clearer picture of the meaning of service in Vietnam to
women. We have established a National Steering Committee on Women Vietnam Veterans.
One of its central concerns will be the Veterans Administration. Informal sur-
veys and preliminary results from a General Accounting Office study we stimulated,
have convinced us that the VA does not live up to its obligation to provide medical
service to women. For instance, few Veterans Administration hospitals provide gyne-
cological services.
III. REFORM OF THE INSTITUTIONS AFFECTING VETERANS
Women are not, however, the only veterans whose needs are neglected and
interests ill-served by the Veterans Administration. Reform of that bureaucracy is
the major focus of the third purpose of Vietnam Veterans of America-fundamental
reform of the governmental and private institutions that have a major impact on the
lives of veterans.
- 11 -
In 1980 the National Survey of Veterans revealed that Vietnam veterans have a
low opinion of and utilize, reluctantly, Veterans Administration facilities and ser-
vices. Forty percent of Vietnam veterans were eligible for servies at the time of
the survey, but only 8.5% were hospitalized in VA institutions, just 5.3% sought
outpatient treatment and 6% received treatment under joint VA and non-VA auspices.
This is a total of less than half of those eligible. Further, only half of those
who used the services found them satisfactory.
Such widely varying groups as the National Academy of Science, the General
Accounting Office and the Heritage Foundation have found fault with both the concep-
tual framework and the actual performance of the Veterans Administration.
An example is the 1977 National Academy of Sciences' study of the VA health care
system. When first established in 1922, there was a shortage of general health care
facilities for veterans. The purpose of the system was to provide the best possible
health care, not necessarily to perpetuate an exclusive and segregated health care
sector. Not only has it been failing to provide the best health care, but the
system is now largely devoted to nonservice related problems of progressively older
patients.
Agenda for Progress, a 1981 publication of the Heritage Foundation, points out
that 85% of all veterans hospitalizations take place outside the VA system. In
addition, only one-sixth of the patients inside the system are there for service-
connected disabilities and that the costs for treating patients are higher per case
than in private hospitals. Given the clear preference of veterans for non-VA treat-
ment and the enormous increase in budget outlays required as the majority of World
War II veterans reach 65, the continuation of a massive bureaucracy of 144 general
hospitals, 28 psychiatric hospitals, 16 domiciliaries, 97 nursing homes and 229 out-
patient clinics must be questioned.
Other questions must be raised about compensation payments and pensions to
veterans and their survivors with no service-related disability. VVA is the only
veterans group that has challenged that which is considered inviolably sacred by
most traditional veteran groups.
We are developing long-range strategies to address these questions. It is clear
that changes will come slowly and that they must be carefully assessed and prepared
for. In the interim, we are pushing for two changes which will make the system
somewhat better.
First, VVA agrees with the General Accounting Office proposal to place an
ombudsman in each VA hospital to monitor conditions and abuses and help correct
individual problems. VVA is also urging that veterans be allowed the right to judi-
cial review for claims denied by the Veterans Administration, a right currently
denied to the detriment of justice for veterans.
We are also beginning to work on the inside to improve the functioning of the
VA. In 1981 VVA was recognized as a Veterans Service Organization by the Veterans
Administration. This gives us official status to place our staff, along with those
of other veterans groups in VA facilities to represent veterans in their claims with
VA and in referrals to other useful groups.
- 12
IV. APPLYING THE LESSONS LEARNED IN VIETNAM
VVA is already looking beyond the return and readjustment of Vietnam veterans
and the reform of institutions affecting them to the more complex and difficult task
of applying the lessons learned in Vietnam to future American policy. Opening the
dialogue with the Government of Vietnam illustrates our willingness to take calcu-
lated risks with the support of our constituency where the issues are of overriding
importance to make that goal real.
Part of the impact of Vietnam can be seen in the contrast between the energy and
hope of the early 1960's and the frustration and confusion widely apparent now. The
detour in the individual lives of members of the war generation was also a detour in
the life of the country as a whole. Out of the ravages in their own lives, Vietnam
veterans have a special stake in recapturing the sense of what the country can
become. The maturity and humility which often came out of that experience are cri-
tical to an appreciation of where we are now and where we have been. The more
intensely veterans were shaped by the war, the more they have been immunized against
its trials and mistakes. The more selfless their motives and sacrifice, the deeper
are likely to be the contributions they can make in the future. By tapping the
resource of that experience, some of the momentum and spirit drowned in the quagmire
may yet be restored.
Our own members disagree as to both how the United States reached this stage and
what can and should be done. But we have learned much about military and foreign
policy as it really impacts other countries that are the objects of that policy and
as it affects Americans and America. We do not pretend to have the answer but we do
know many of the questions. We shall be more and more vocal in asking them in the
future and will develop with our membership specific policy analyses as appropriate.
Vietnam Veterans of America has taken on a gargantuan task in addressing our
four purposes. We have had. many successes and some failures. We are learning to be
a new kind of veterans group-not just a trade association concerned with the narrow
interests of our members, but also with the broader implications of our experiences
as Vietnam veterans and American citizens. Failure to fully realize that goal would
not have the impact on the United States that the Vietnam War had, but we believe
that success will have meaning for many more than the 2,800,000 American immigrants from
Vietnam.
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION
Staff Roster
June 1982
Robert Muller
Executive Director
Greg Kane
Director of Operations
John F. Terzano
Director - Washington Office
Richard F. Weidman
Membership Services Director
Lynda Van Devanter
Director - Community Service Programs
Louise Coffey
Bookkeeper
Mary Lane
Administrative Assistant
Ken Berez
Administrative Assistant
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION
Auditors Report
To April 30, 1982
TANKLOW, HOLLENDER & COMPANY
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
450 SEVENTH AVENUE
TANKLOW, HOLLENDER & COMPANY
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
450 SEVENTH AVENUE
NEW YORK. N.Y. 10001
PHONE (212) 594-7520
To the Board of Directors of
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation
We have examined the balance sheet of Vietnam Veterans
of America Foundation as of April 30, 1982, and the
related statements of support, revenue, expenses and
changes in fund balances, of changes in financial po-
sition, and of functional expenses for the year then
ended. Our examinations were made in accordance with
generally accepted auditing standards and accordingly
included such tests of the accounting records and such
other auditing procedures as we considered necessary
in the circumstances.
In our opinion, the accompanying statements present
fairly the financial position of Vietnam Veterans of
America Foundation at April 30, 1982 and the results
of its operations and changes in its financial posi-
tion for the year then ended, in conformity with gen-
erally accepted accounting principles.
Tanklaw, Hollender X Company
New York, N.Y.
June 1st, 1982
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION
BALANCE SHEET
AS AT APRIL 30, 1982
ASSETS
Current Assets
Cash in bank
$ 3,010
Investments - Money Market Fund
446
Advances to Affiliate
77,725
TOTAL ASSETS
$ 81,181
LIABILITIES AND FUND BALANCE
Current Liabilities
Loans payable
$ 4,000
Fund Balance
77,181
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND FUND BALANCE
$ 81,181
The appended letter and accompanying notes are an integral part
of this statement.
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION
STATEMENT OF SUPPORT, REVENUES, EXPENSES
AND CHANGES IN FUND BALANCES
FOR THE YEAR ENDED APRIL 30, 1982
Support and Revenue
Fund Raising Events
$272,731
Contributions
20,692
Grants
35,000
Speaking engagements
3,458
Interest income
446
Total Support and Revenue
$332,327
Expenses
Program services
177,952
Management and general
24,884
Fund raising
58,912
Total Expenses
261,748
Excess of Support and
Revenue over Expenses
70,579
Fund Balance - beginning
of Year
6,602
FUND BALANCE - END OF YEAR
$ 77,181
The appended letter and accompanying notes are an integral part
of this statement.
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION
STATEMENT OF FUNCTIONAL EXPENSES
FOR THE YEAR ENDED APRIL 30, 1982
Manage-
Program
ment and
Fund
Services
General
Raising
Total
Occupancy
$ 11,186
$ 3,600
$
$ 14,786
Telephone
22,014
4,800
2,400
29,214
Travel and hotels
50,781
1,200
1,200
53,181
Equipment leasing
8,657
2,400
11,057
Specific assistance
projects
7,548
7,548
Printing and publica-
tions
15,724
600
2,000
18,324
Fund raising
52,112
52,112
Office and postage
15,422
2,400
1,200
19,022
Consultants fees
36,602
36,602
Professional fees
9,314
9,314
Registration fees
570
570
Film Production
10,018
10,018
Total
$177,952
$ 24,884
$ 58,912
$261,748
The appended letter and accompanying notes are an integral part
of this statement.
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN FINANCIAL POSITION
FOR THE YEAR ENDED APRIL 30, 1982
Working Capital Provided By Operations:
Excess of Support and Revenues
over Expenses
$ 70,579
Increase in Working Capital
$ 70,579
Components of Changes In Working Capital
Increase in Current Assets -
Cash
$ 1,044
Investments Money Market Fund
446
Advances to Affiliate
73,089
74,579
(Increase) in Current Liabilities
Loans payable
( 4,000 )
Increase in Working Capital
$ 70,579
The appended letter and accompanying notes are an integral part
of this statement.
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION
NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
APRIL 30, 1982
Note 1 - Organization and Operations
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation was incorp-
orated May 5, 1980. The organization serves as
a national clearing house for information con-
cerning the Vietnam veteran and matters of con-
cern to the veteran particularly as they relate
to the Vietnam War experience. Such information
gathering includes compiling information about
books, films, plays, articles, studies, etc.
relevant to the Vietnam experience. The organ-
ization disseminates this information through
symposiums, conferences, lecture tours, plays,
and other educational and cultural expressions
including books, special publications, films,
slide shows, exhibits and others.
The organization sponsors studies and research
work on matters of concern and related to the
socio/economic welfare and readjustment of the
Vietnam-era veteran. All such research and
studies is non-partisan and for educational
purposes to foster greater understanding of
the Vietnam veteran's experiences and needs.
The organization carries out educational activ-
ities which serve to promote recognition and
appreciation by the public of the service
rendered by the Vietnam-era veteran, which
serve to eliminate prejudice and discrimin-
ation against the Vietnam-era veteran and
which serve to promote the general welfare
of the Vietnam veteran and his family.
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation is ex-
empt from Federal income tax under Section
501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation
WA
329 Eighth Street, N.E.
®
Washington. D.C. 20002
(202) 546-3700
STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE
WITH
5 CFR 950
This is to certify that the Vietnam Veterans of America
Foundation complies with 5 CFR 950.101 (a) (2) and with 5 CFR
950.403 through 5 CFR 950,405.
Particularly we comply with 950.405 (a) (6) (b) and all
other factors concerning fund raising practice in 5 CFR 950.
Specifically, we do not allow for unauthorized use of our
contributor lists, do not permit payment of commission kick-
backs, finders fees, percentages, bonuses or overrides for
fund raisers, nor do we solicit public contributions through
general telephone campaigns.
John the Terzano National
Office
TANKLOW, HOLLENDER & COMPANY
CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS
450 SEVENTH AVENUE
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10001
WILLIAM TANKLOW, CPA
-
ALEX HOLLENDER, CPA
(212) 594-7520
JOSE FERNANDEZ, CPA
EDWARD JACOBOWITZ, CPA
July 16, 1982
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation
329 Eighth Street N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20002
I certify that the above named organization has
adopted and has prepared its financial statements in accordance
with the Standards of Accounting & Financial Reporting For
Voluntary Health & Welfare Organizations (1974 edition) prepared
and published by The National Health Council, Inc., The National
Assembly of National Voluntary Health & Welfare Organizations, Inc.
and The United Way of America.
Very truly yours,
Tanklow, Hollender Y Company
TANKLOW, HOLLENDER & COMPANY
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA
Fully Accredited Chapters *
July 1, 1982
COLORADO
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter # 57
1436 Colorado Avenue #2
Grand Junction, CO 81501
FLORIDA
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #23
400 E. Prospect Road
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33334
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #25
P.O. Box 15934
West Palm Beach, FL 33406
ILLINOIS
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #52
R.R.2 Box 29
Sainte Anne, IL 60964
IOWA
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #64
1109 25th Street
Sioux City, IA 51104
MASSACHUSETTS
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #50
15 Franklin
Greenfield, MA 01301
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #65
P.O. Box 62
Housatonic, MA 01236
-2-
MASSACHUSETTS continued
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #54
P.O. Box 1515
North Adams, MA 01247
MICHIGAN
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #30
P.O. Box 12268
Lansing, MI 48901
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #31
1045 Camelot
North Muskegon, MI 49445
MINNESOTA
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #62
P. O. Box 13112
Minneapolis, MN 55414
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #6
P.O. Box 3292
Manchester, NH 03105
NEW JERSEY
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter # 12
104 Highland Avenue
Shark River, NJ 07753
NEW YORK
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter # 20
459 South Avenue
Rochester, NY 14620
OHIO
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter # 16
270 Marconi Boulevard
Columbus, Ohio 43215
-3-
PENNSYLVANIA
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter # 67
141 East Parkway Avenue
Chester, PA 19013
WISCONSIN
Vietnam Veterans of America
Chapter #5
Route 5, Box 83
Eau Claire, WI 54701
*
Fifty additional chapters in twelve additional states are in the process of
incorporation, expected to be completed by Fall, 1982.
Internal Revenue Service
Department of the Treasury
District Director
Date:
Employer Identification Number:
AUG 2 7 1980
Accounting Period Ending:
April 30
Foundation Status Classification:
170(b)(1)(A)(vi) and 509(a)(1)
Advance Ruling Period Ends:
Vietnam Veterans of America
April 30, 1982
Foundation
Person to Contact:
212 Fifth Avenue Rm-703
EP/EO:7202:L. Wolpert
M-80-E0-709
New York, New York 10010
Contact Telephone Number:
212 264 1872
Case #13017127E0
Dear Applicant:
Based on information supplied, and assuming your operations will be as stated
in your application for recognition of exemption, we have determined you are exempt
from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Because you are a newly created organization, we are not now making a final
determination of your foundation status under section 509(a) of the Code. However,
we have determined that you can reasonably be expected to be a publicly supported
organization described in section 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) and 509(a)(1)
Accordingly, you will be treated as a publicly supported organization, and not
as a private foundation, during an advance ruling period. This advance. ruling period
begins on the date of your inception and ends on the date shown above.
Within 90 days after the end of your advance ruling period, you must submit to
us information needed to determine whether you have met the requirements of the
applicable support test during the advance ruling period. If you establish that you
have been a publicly supported organization, you will be classified as a section
509(a)( (1) or 509(a)(2) organization as long as you continue to meet the requirements
of the applicable support test. If you do not meet the public support requirements
during the advance ruling period, you will be classified as a private foundation for
future periods. Also, if you are classified as a private foundation, you will be
treated as a private foundation from the date of your inception for purposes of
sections 507(d) and 4940.
Grantors and donors may rely on the determination that you are not a private
foundation until 90 days after the end of your advance ruling period. If you submit
the required information within the 90 days, grantors and donors may continue to
rely on the advance determination until the Service makes a final determination of
your foundation status: However, if notice that you will no longer be treated as a
section *
*
*
organization is published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin,
grantors and donors may not rely on this determination after the date of such
publication. Also, a grantor or donor may not rely on this determination if he or
she was in part responsible for, or was aware of, the act or failure to act that
resulted in your loss of section
*
*
*
status, or acquired knowledge that
the Internal Revenue Service had given notice that you would be removed from
classification as a section
*
*
*
organization.
***170(b)(1)(A)(vi) and 509(a)(1)
(over)
Letter 1045(DO) (6-77)
District Director, Manhattan District
If your sources of support, or your purposes, character, or method of operation
change, please let us know so we can consider the effect of the change on your
exempt status and foundation status. Also, you should inform us of all changes in
your name or address.
Generally, you are not liable for social security (FICA) taxes unless you file
a waiver of exemption certificate as provided in the Federal Insurance Contributions
Act. If you have paid FICA taxes without filing the waiver, you should call us. You
are not liable for the tax imposed under the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA).
(
)
( ( )
Organizations that are not private foundations are not subject to the excise
taxes under Chapter 42 of the Code. However, you are not automatically exempt from
other Federal excise taxes. If you have any questions about excise, employment, or
other Federal taxes, please let us know.
Donors may deduct contributions to you as provided in section 170 of the Code.
Bequests, legacies, devises, transfers, or gifts to you or for your use are
deductible for Federal estate and gift tax purposes if they meet the applicable
provisions of sections 2055, 2106, and 2522 of the Code.
You are required to file Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt from Income
Tax, only if your gross receipts each year are normally more than $10,000. If a
return is required, it must be filed by the 15th day of the fifth month after the
end of your annual accounting period. The law imposes a penalty of $10 a day, up to
a maximum of $5,000, when a return is filed late, unless there is reasonable cause
for the delay.
You are not required to file Federal income tax returns unless you are subject
to the tax on unrelated business income under section 511 of the Code. If you are
subject to this tax, you must file an income tax return on Form 990-T. In this
letter, we are not determining whether any of your present or proposed activities
are unrelated trade or business as defined in section 513 of the Code.
You need an employer identification number even if you have no employees. If
an employer identification number was not entered on your application, a number will
be assigned to you and you will be advised of it. Please use that number on all
returns you file and in all correspondence with the Internal Revenue Service.
Because this letter could help resolve any questions about your exempt status
and foundation status, you should keep it in your permanent records.
If you have any questions, please contact the person whose name and telephone
number are shown in the heading of this letter.
Sincerely yours,
P.J. Mediud District Director
CC: Stephen 1. Solomon, Esq.
c/o Jarblum Solomon
650 Fiftl Avenue
New York, New York 10019
(
Letter 1045(DO) (6-77)
CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENT OF VIETNAM
VETERANS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION AND 17 VIETNAM
VETERANS OF AMERICA CHAPTERS FOR THE FISCAL
YEAR ENDING APRIL 30, 1982
AMOUNT
PERCENT
TOTAL PUBLIC
SUPPORT & REVENUE
PUBLIC SUPPORT
Received Directly
Contributions
$23, 697
6.2%
Special Events
$295,245
77.5%
Legacies and Bequests
$182
0%
Subtotal
$319,124
83.7%
Received Indirectly
Federated campaigns (e.g. United Way) $0
0%
Federal Service campaigns
$0
0%
Other Contributions
$40,887
10.8%
Subtotal
$40,887
10.8%
Total Support from the Public
$360,011
94.5%
REVENUE
Grants from Federal Government Agencies
(including grants in-kind)
$0
0%
Grants from state or local Government
Agencies (including Medicaid)
$0
0%
Memberships
$5,255
1.4%
Program Service Fees (including Medicare) $0
0%
Sales of Materials and Services to Member
Units (net of direct expenses)
$0
0%
Transfers, Dues,etc. from affiliated
organizations, etc
$0
0%
Sales of Materials and Services to the
public (net of direct expenses)
$10,206
2.7%
Investment Income
$446
0.1%
Gains of Investment Transactions
$0
0%
Other Income
$4,977
1.3%
Total Revenue
$20,904
5.5%
Total Public Support and Revenue
$380,915
100%
EXPENSES
Program Services
$202,322
53.1%
Subtotal
$202,322
53.1%
SUPPORTING SERVICES
Management and General
$33,194
8.7%
Fundraising
$61,209
16.1%
Subtotal
$94,403
224.8%
Total Expenses
$296,725
77.9%
Excess (deficiency) of public support
and revenue over expenses
$84,190
22.1%
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION
Robert O. Muller
17 Stoneyview Court
Dix Hills, N.Y. 11746
Disabled Veteran, Lawyer
Gregory Kane
844 Elda Lane
Westbury, N.Y.
Administrator
Thomas A. Bird
268 W. 91st St.
New York, N.Y.
Theater Director
John F. Terzano
922 S. Washington St.
Apt. 103
Alexandria, Va. 22314
Administrator
990
Return of Organization Exempt from income Tax
s:1ment of the Treasury
Under section 501(c) (except black lung benefit trust or private foundation),
1981
termst Revenue Service
of the Internal Revenue Code or section 4947(a)(1) trust
the
calendar
year
1981
or
is
11
'ar
beginning
MAY L
1981,
and
ending
APEIL
30,
1982
lise
$ 50 13-3030278 490
04
3
15
03
A En player Identification number (see instruction 11
:RS
VIETNAi VETERANS OF AMERICA
13:3030278
lubel.
FOUNDATION
R
Other-
212 FIFTH AVENUE ROUM 703
wise,
NEW YORK
NY
10010
S
B State registration 49816 number (see instruction D)
please
print
C I: address changed, check here
igse. I
D Check ar plicab'e box-Exempt under section
X
501(c) (3) ) (insert number). OR
[ ]
section 4947(a)(1) trust
E Accounting method:
Cash
Accrual
Other (specify)
Seliun *947(a)(1) trusts filing this form in lieu of Form 1041, check here
(sre instruction C 10).
1; Is this a croup return (see instruction J) filed for affiliates?
Yes
No
If "Yes" to either, give four-dight group exemption
's this a sepurate return filed by a group affiliate?
Yes
No
number (GEN)
Note: few may be able to use a copy of 1415 return to satisfy State reporting requirements. See instruction D.
C.r.a here it gross receipts are normally not more than $10,000. De not complete the rest of th.s return (see instruction B11).
Check here if closs receipts are normally more than $10,000 and line 12 is $25,000 or less. Complete Parts I (except line; 13-15). III, IV. VI, and V'I and only the
and - iled items in Fats II and Y (see instruction 1). If line 12 is more than $25,000. complete the entre return.
A. tion SUI(c)(3) organizations and 4947(a)(1) trusts must also complete and attach Schedule A (Form 990).
These chunus are out una!
Statement of Support, Revenue, and Expenses
see Instructions
Part-
(A) Total
and Changes in Fund Balances
(2) Unrestrictedy
(C) Restricted/
Expendable
Nonexpendable
1 Contributions, gifts, grants, and similar amounts received:
(a) Direct public support
SEE
(b) Indirect public support
SCHEDULE
(c) Government grants
ATTACHED
(d) Total (add lines 1(a) through 1(c)) (attach schedule-see instructions)
55692
2 Program service revenue (from Part IV, line (f))
3458
3 Membership dues and assessments
4 Interest on savings and temporary cash investments
446
5 Dividends and interest from securities
6 (a) Gross rents
(b) Minus: Rental expenses
Support and Revenue
(c) Net rental income (loss)
7 Other investment income (Describe
)
8 (3) Gross amount from sale of as-
Securities
Other
sets other than inventory
(b) Minus: Cost or other basis
and sales expenses
(c) Gain (loss) (attach schedule)
9 Special fundraising events and activities (atlach schedule-see Instructions):
(a) Gross revenue (not including $
of contributions reported on line 1(a))
272731
(b) Minus: Direct expenses
44357
(c) Net income (line 9(a) minus line 9(b))
228374
10 (a) Gross sales minus returns and allowances
(b) Minus: Cost of goods sold (attach schedule)
(c) Gross profit (loss)
11 Other revenue (from Part IV, line (o))
12 Total revenue (add lines 1(d), 2. 3, 4. 5, b(c), 7, 8(c), 9(c), 10(c). and 11)
287970
13 Program services (from line 44(B))
177952
Expenses
14 Management and general (from line 44(C))
24884
15 Fundraising (from line 44(D))
14555
-
1E Payments to affiliates (attach schedule-see instructions)
17 Total expenses (add lines 13, 14, 15, and 16)
217391
18 Excess (delicit) for the year (subtract line 17 from line 12)
7057
fund
Balances
19 Fl nd balances or net worth at beginning of year (from line 74(A))
6602
1
20 Other changes In fund balances or net worth (attach explanation)
21 Fund balances or n't word 1 at end of year (add lines 18, 19, and 20)
77181
For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, zee page 1 of the instructions.
Form 990 (1981)
Statement of
If line 12, Part 1, IS $25,000 or less, you should complete only column (A). If line 12 is more'
Part II
Functional Expenses $25,000, complete columns (A), (B), (C), 2nd (D).
Do not Include amounts reported un line 6(b),
(A) Total
(B) Program
(C) Management
services
and general
(D) Fundraising
8(b), 9(b). 10(b), or 16 of Part 1.
22 Grants and allocations (attach schedule)
23 Specific assistance to individuals
24 Benefits paid to or for members
25 Compensation of officers, directors, etc.
26 Other salaries and wages
27 Pension plan contributions
28 Other employee benefits
29 Payroll taxes
30 Professional fundraising fees
31 Accounting fees
850
850
32 Legal feas
8464
8464
33 Supplies OFFICE, XELOX
19022
15422
2400
1200
Expenses
34 Telephone
29214
22014
4800
2400
35 Postage and shipping
(48,836)
36 Occupancy
14786
11186
3600
37 Equipment rental and maintenance
11057
8657
2400
38 Printing and publications
18324
15224
600
2000
39 Travel ,HOTELS
53181
50781
1200
1200
40 Conferences, conventions and meetings
41 Interest
42 Depreciation, depletion, etc. (attach schedule)
43 Other expenses (itemize); (a)
(b) SPECIFIC ASSIST.PROJECTS
7548
7548
(c) ADVERTISING MAILINGS
7755
7755
(d) CONSULTONTS FEES
36602
36602
(e) REGISTRATION, AVNG PEES
570
570
(f) FILMPRODUCTION
10018
10018
44 Total functional expenses (add lines 22
through 43)
217391
171952
24884
14555
Statement of Program Service Activities
Describe each significant program service activity and indicate the total expenses attributable to each. Include refe-
vant statistical information, such as the number of clients, patients, students, or members served. Also indicate the
Expenses
amount of grants and allocations that are included in the total expenses reported for that program.
(a)
SEE ATTACHMENTS
(Grants and allocations $ 35000 )
177952
(b)
(Grants and allocations $
)
(c)
(Grants and allocations $
)
(d)
(Grants and allocations $
)
(e) Other program service activities (attach schedule)
(Grants and allocations $
)
(f) Total (sdd lines (a) through (e)) (should equal line 44(8))
177952
(1981)
Page 3
t N :
Program Service Revenue and Other Revenue (State Nature)
Program service
Other reven.
revenue
FEES FROM SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
ees from government agencies
3458
Total program service revenue (Enter here and on line 2)
3458
Total other revenue (Enter here and on line 11)
-0-
rtV
Balance Sheets
If line 12, Part 1, and line 59 are $25,000 or less, you should complete only lines 59, 66, and 74 and, if you do not use funr
accounting, line 73. If line 12 or line 59 is more than $25,000, complete the entire balance sheet. See instructions.
Note: Columns (C) and (D) are optional. Columns (A) and (B) must
Erd of year
be completed to the extent applicable. Where required, at
(A) Beginning
of year
tached schedules should be for end-of-year amounts only.
(B) Total
(C) Unrestricted/
(D) Restricted:
Expendat is
Nonexpendable
Assets
Cash-non-interest bearing
1966
3010
/
Savings ar.d temporary cash investments
446
Accounts receivable
ninus allowance for doubtful accounts
Pledges receivable
ninus allowance for doubtful accounts
Jants receivable
Receivables due from officers, directors, trustees and key employ-
is (attach schedule)
Other notes and loans receivable
ninus ailowance for doubtful accounts
inventories for sale or use
Prepaid expenses and deferred charges
Investments-sccurities (attach schedule)
Investments-land, buildings and equipment: basis
ninus accumulated depreciation
(attach schedule)
Investments-ather (attach schedule)
Land, buildings and equipment: basis
ininus accumulated depreciation
(attach schedule)
Other assets: ANANGES To AFFILIATE
4636
77725
Total assets (add lines 45 through 58)
6602
8181
Liabilities
Accounts payable and accrued expenses
Grants payable
Support and revenue designated for future periods (attach sched.)
Loans from officers, directors, trustees and key employees (at.
tach schedule)
Mortgages and other notes payable (attach schedule)
Other liabilities: LOANS PAYABLE
I
4000
Total liabilities (add lines 60 through 65)
-0-
4000
Fund Balances or Net Worth
Organizations that use fund accounting, check here
and
complete lines 67 through 70 and lines 74 and 75.
Current funds
6602
77181
Land, buildings and equipment fund
t.ndowment fund
Other funds (Describe
)
Organizations that do not use fund accounting, check here
and complete lines 71 through 75.
Capital stock or trust principal
Paid-in or capital surplus
Retained earnings or accumulated income
Total fund balances or net worth (see Instructions)
6602
3166
Total liabilities and fund balances/net worth (see Instructions)
6602
8118
Part Via List of Officers, Directors, and Trustees (See Instructions)
(B) ille and average
(C) Compensation
(D) Contributions to
(E) Expense as
(A) Name and address
hours per weeh
(if any)
employee
and other
devoted to position
benefit plans
a lowances
ROBERT 0, MULLER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
17 STINSTWALL CT., DIXHILLS, N.Y.
FART-TIME
-0-
-0-
-0-
GREGORY KANE
SECY, TREAS,
-
244 ELIA LANE, WESTBURY, NY,
PART-TIME
-0-
-0-
-0-
THOMAS BIRD
VICE-PRES,
268 W. 91 st. NY NY 10024
PART-TIME
-0-
-0-
-0-
JOHN TERZANO
JOARD
922 South WASHINGTON st.
MEMBER
-0-
-0-
$
atexandria, VA. 22314 am. 103
Part VII Other Information
Yes
76 Has the organization engaged in any activities not previously reported to the Internal Revenue Service?
If "Yes," attach a detailed description of the activities.
77 Have any changes been made in the organizing or governing documents, but not reported to IRS?
If "Yes," attach a conformed copy of the changes.
78 (a) Did the organization have unrelated business gross income of $1,000 or more during the year covered by this return?
(b) If "Yes," have you filed a tax return on Form 990-T, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return, for this year?
(c) If the organization has gross sales or receipts from business activities not reported on Form 990-T, attach a statement
explaining your reason for not reporting them on Form 990-T.
79 Was there a liquidation, dissolution, termination, or substantial contraction during the year (see instructions)?
If "Yes," attach a statement as described in the instructions.
80 Is the organization related (other than by association with a statewide or nationwide organization) through common member-
ship, governing bodies, trustees, officers, etc. to any other exempt or nonexempt organization (see ructions)?
If "Yes," enter the name of organization
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA, INC,
and check whether it is
exempt
OR
nonevempt.
81 (a) Enter amount of political expenditures, direct or indirect, 35 described in the instructions
N/A
(b) Did you file Form 1120-POL, U.S. Income Tax Return for Certain Political Organizations, for this year?
82 Did your organization receive donated services or the use of materials, equipment or facilities at no charge or at substan
tially less than fair rental value?
If "Yes," you may indicate the value of these items here. Do not include this amount as support in Part I
or as an expense in Part II. See instructions for reporting in Part III
N/A
83 Section 501(c)(5) or (6) organizations.-Did the organization spend any amounts in attempt to influence public opinion
about legislative matters or referendums (see instructions and Regulations section 1.162-20(c))?
If "Yes," enter the total amount spent for this purpose
N/A
84 Section 501(c)(7) organizations.-Enter amount of:
(a) Initiation fees and capital contributions included on line 12
N/A
(b) Gross receipts, included in line 12, for public use of club facilities (see instructions)
N/A
(c) Does the club's governing instrument or any written policy statement provide for discrimination against any person
because of race, color, or religion (see instructions)?
85 Section 501(c)(12) organizations.-Enter amount of:
(a) Gross income received from members or shareholders
N/A
(b) Gross income received from other sources (do not net amounts due or paid to other sources
against amounts due or received from them)
N/A
86 Public interest law firms.-Attach information described in instructions
NEW YORK
87 List the States with which a copy TAXPAYER of this return is filed
88 The books are-in care of
Telephone No.
685-3152
Located at
AS ABOVE
Please
Under penalties of perjury. I deciare that I have examined this return, Including accompanying schedules and statements, and to the test of my knowledge and
it IS true, (other than taxpayer) is based on all Information of which preparer has any knowledge.
Sign
Here
6/2/82
President
Signature
Date
Title
Date
Check if
Preparer's
Paid
signature
Tanklaw, Hollender & Co.
6/2/82
self-em-
P.eparer's
played
Use Only
Firm's name (or
JANKL
HOLLENDER & CO., CPAS
yours. if self-employed)
and address
13-1914744 450 7 NE, NYC 10001
ZIP code
m 990)
(Except Private Foundation), 501(e), 501(f) or Section 4947(a)(1) Trust
partment of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Supplementary Information
Attach to Form 990.
be
1
Employer identification number
Name VIETNAM TERANS OF AMERICA FOUND ATTON
13 3030278
Part
Compensation of Five Highest Paid Employees
(Other than Officers, Directors, and Trustees-see specific instructions)
Title and average
Contributions to
Expense ace
't
Name and address of employees paid more than $30,000
hours per week
Compensation
employee
and other
devoted to position
benefit plans
allowance
Total number of other employees paid over $30,000
NONE
Part II Compensation of Five Highest Paid Persons for Professional Services
(See specific instructions)
Name and address of persons paid more than $30,000
Type of service
Compensation
Total number of others receiving over $30,000 for profes-
sional services
NONE
in Part HI Statements About Activities
Yes
No
1 During the year have you attempted to influence national, State or local legislation, Including any attempt to Influence
public opinion on a legislative matter or referendum?
If "Yes," enter the total of the expenses paid or incurred in connection with the legislative activities $
-0-
Complete Part VI of this form for organizations that made an election under section 501(h) on Form 5768 or other statement.
For other organizations checking "Yes," attach a statement giving a detailed description of the legislative activities and a
classified schedule of the expenses paid or incurred.
2 During the year have you, either directly or indirectly, engaged in any of the following acts with a trustee, director, principal
officer or creator of your organization, or any organization or corporation with which such person is affiliated as an officer,
director, trustee, majority owner or principal beneficiary:
(a) Sale, exchange, or leasing of property?
(b) Lending of money or other extension of credit?
(c) Furnishing of goods, services, or facilities?
(d) Payment of compensation (or payment or reimbursement of expenses if more than $1,000)?
(e) Transfer of any part of your Income or assets?
If the answer to eny question is "Yes," attech a detailed statement explaining the transactions.
3 Attach a statement explaining how you determine that Individuals or organizations receiving disbursements from you in
furtherance of your charitable programs qualify to receive payments. (See specific instructions.)
4 Do you make grants for scholarships, fellowships, student loans, etc.?
5 During the year did you receive any qualified conservation contribution whose value was more than $5,000?
If "Yes," attach a schedule as described in the Instructions.
For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see page 1 of the separate Instructions to this form.
Part
JV
Reason for Non-Private Foundation Status (See instructions for definitions)
he organization is not a private foundation because it is (check applicable box; please check only ONE box):
6
1 A church. Section 170(b)(1)(A)(i).
7
2 A school. Section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii). (Also complete Part V; page 3.)
R
3 A hospital. Section 170(b)(1)(A)(iii).
?
4 A governmental unit. Section 170(b)(1)(A)(v).
0
5 A medical research organization operated in conjunction with a hospital. Section 170(b)(1)(A)(ili). Enter name and addre of
hospital
1
6 An organization operated for the benefit of a college or university owned or operated by a governmental unit. Section 170(b)(1 (A)
(IV). (Also complete Support Schedule.)
2
7
An organization that normally receives a substantial part of its support from a governmental unit or from the general public. Sec-
tion 170(b)(1)(A)(vi). (Also complete Support Schedule.)
3
B An organization that normally receives: (a) no more than 1/3 of its support from gross investment income and unrelated business
taxable income (less section 511 tax) from businesses acquired by the organization after June 30, 1975, and (b) more than 1/3 of
its support from contributions, membership fees, and gross receipts from activities related to its charitable, etc. functions-subject
to certain exceptions. See section 509(a)(2). (Use cash receipts and disbursements method of accounting; also complete Suppo.
Schedule.)
4
v An organization that is not controlled by any disqualified persons (other than foundation managers) and supports organizations
described in (1) boxes 6 through 13 above or (2) section 501(c)(4), (5). or (6) if they meet the test of section 509(a)(2). See sec-
tion 509(a)(3).
rovide the following information about the supported organizations. (See instructions for Part IV, box 14.)
(b) Box number
(a) Name of supported organizations
from above
SUPPORT FROM CONTRIBUTIONS FROM GENERAL PUBLIC.
12
THER PUBLIC CHARITIES: GRANTS crom PUBLIC CHARMES,
THE GENERAL PUBLIC -GDVERNMENT AGENUES
(c) Relationship of supported organizations to your organization:
(1) Check here
if the supported organizations appoint a majority of your governing board.
(2) Check here
if a majority of your governing board belong to governing boards of the supported organizations.
(3) Check here
if (1) or (2) above does not apply. (See Regulations 1.509(a)-4.)
(d) If applicable, enter the number of supported organizations exempt under:
(1) Section 501(c)(4)
(2) Section 501(c)(5)
(3) Section 501(c)(6)
(e) Check here
If your organization's main function is to provide funds to the supported organizations.
5
o An organization organized and operated to test for public safety. Section 509(a)(4). (See specific Instructions.)
Support Schedule (Complete only if you checked box 11, 12, or 13 above)
Calendar year (or fiscal
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(0)
year beginning in)
1980
1979
1978
1977
Total
3 Gifts, grants, and contributions re-
celved. (Do not include unusual
grants. See line 29 below.)
28000
INITIAL
28000
i Membership fees received
-
YEAR
-
3 Gross receipts from admissions, merchan-
dise sold or services performed, or furnish-
ing of facilities in any activity that is not a
business unrelated to the organization's
charitable, etc. purpose
-
INCORP.
-
) Gross Income from interest, dividends,
amounts received from payments on securi-
5/5/80
ties loans (section 512(a)(5)). rents, royal.
ties, and unrelated business taxable Income
(lass section 511 taxes) from businesses ac-
quired by the organization after June 30,
-
-
1975
) Net Income from unrelated business
-
-
activities not included in line 19
(Continued on page 3)
n (Form 990) 1981
Page
in
IV
Support Schedule (continued) (Complete only if you checked box 11, 12, or 13 on page 2)
Calendar year (or fiscal
(a)
(b)
(e)
(d)
"
year beginning in)
1980
1979
1978
1977
T
11
1 Tax revenues levied for your benefit
and either paid to you or expended
on your behalf
INITIAL
2 The value of services or facilities
YEAR
furnished to you by a governmental
unit without charge. Do not include
the value of services or facilities
generally furnished to the public
without charge
1
INCORP.
13 Other income. Attach schedule. Do
5/5/80
not include gain (or loss) from sale
of capital assets
-
14 Total of lines 16 through 23
28000
28000
25 Line 24 minus line 18
coors
0028-
26 Enter 1% of line 24
280
27 Organizations described in box 11 or 12, page 2:
(a) Enter 2% of amount In column (e), line 25
so
(b) Attach a list (not open to public inspection) showing the name of and amount contributed by each person (other
than a governmental unit or publicly supported organization) whose total gifts for 1977 through 1980 exceeded
the amount shown in 27(a). Enter the sum of ali excess N/A amounts here SCHEDULE ATTACHED
54956
28 Organizations described in box 13, page 2:
(a) Attach a list, for amounts shown on lines 16, 17, and 18, showing the name of, and total amounts received in each year from eac
"disqualified person," and enter the sum of such amounts for each year:
(1980)
(1979)
(1978)
(1977)
(b) Attach a list showing. for 1977 through 1980, the name and amount included in line 18 for each person (other than "disqualifie
persons") from whom the organization received more, during that year, than the larger of: the amount on line 26 for the yea
or $5,000. Include organizations described in boxes 6 through 12 as well as individuals. Enter the sum of these excess amounts "
each year:
(1980)
(1979)
(1978)
(1977)
29 For an organization described in boxes 11. 12, or 13, page 2, that received any unusual grants during 1977 through 1980, attach a li:
(not onen to public inspection) for each year showing the name of the contributor, the date and amount of the grant, and a brief descriç
tion of the nature of the grant. Do not include these grants in line 16 above. (See specific instructions.)
Part V " Private School Questionnaire
To Be Completed ONLY by Schools that Checked Box 7 in Part IV
N/A
30 Do you have a racially nondiscriminatory policy toward students by statement In your charter, bylaws, other governing
Yes
No
instrument, or in a resolution of your governing body?
31 Do you include a statement of your racially nondiscriminatory policy toward students in all your brochures, catalogues, and
other written communications with the public dealing with student admissions, programs, and scholarships?
32 Have you publicized your racially nondiscriminatory policy by newspaper or broadcast media during the period of solicitation
for students or during the registration period if you have no solicitation program, in a way that makes the policy known to
all parts of the general community you serve?
If "Yes," please describe; if "No," please explain. (If you need more space, attach a separate statement.)
33 Do you maintain the following:
(a) Records indicating the racial composition of the student body, faculty, and administrative staff?
(b) Records documenting that scholarships and other financial assistance are awarded on a racially nondiscriminatory
basis? (See Instructions.)
(c) Copies of all catalogues, brochures, announcements, and other written communications to the public dealing with
student admissions, programs, and scholarships?
(d) Copies of all material used by you or on your behalf to solicit contributions?
If you answered "No," to any of the above, please explain. (If you need more space, attach 8 separate statement.)
Jule A (Form 990) 1981
rt.Vo Private School Questionnaire
To Be Completed ONLY by Schools that Checked Box 7 in Part IV (Continued)
N/A
)o you discriminate by race in any way with respect to:
Yes
No
a) Students' rights or privileges?
b) Admissions policies?
c) Employment of faculty or administrative staff?
d) Scholarships or other financial assistance (see instructions)?
e) Educational policies?
f) Use of facilities?
g) Athletic programs?
(h) Other extra-curricular activities?
If you answered "Yes," to any of the above, please explain. (If you need more space, attach a separate statement.)
(a) Do you receive any financial aid or assistance from a governmental agency?
(b) Has your right to such aid ever been revoked or suspended?
If you answered "Yes," to either 35(a) or (b), please explain using an attached separate statement.
Do you certify that you have complied with the applicable requirements of section 4.01 through 4.05 of Rev. Proc. 75-50,
1975-2 C.B. 587, covering racial nondiscrimination? If "No," attach an explanation (see instructions for Part V)
art VI Lobbying Expenditures By Public Charities (See N/A instructions) (To be completed ONLY by an eligible organization that
filed Form 5768.)
(a)
(4)
ck here
(a)
If the organization belongs to an affiliated group (see instructions).
Affiliated
To be completed
ck here
(b)
If you checked (a) and "limited control" provisions apply (see instructions).
group
for ALL electing
totals
organizations
Limits on Lobbying Expenses
Total (grassroots) lobbying expenses to influence public opinion
Total lobbying expenses to influence fegislative body
Total lobbying expenses (add lines 37 and 38)
Other exempt purpose expenses (see Part VI instructions)
Total exempt purpose expenses (add lines 39 and 40) (see instructions)
Lobbying nontaxable amount. Enter the smaller of $1,000,000 or the amount determined under the following table
If the amount on line 41 is-
The lobbying nontaxable amount is-
Net over $500,000
20% of the amount on line 41
Over $500,000 but not over $1,000,000
$100,000 plus 15% of the excess over $500,000
Over $1,000,000 but not over $1,500,000
$175,000 plus 10% of the excess over $1,000,000
}
Over $1,500,000
$225,000 plus 5% of the excess over $1,500,000
Grassroots nontaxable amount (enter 25% of line 42)
(Complete lines 44 and 45. File Form 4720 if either line 37 exceeds line 43 or line 39 exceeds line 42.)
Excess of line 37 over line 43
Excess of line 39 over line 42
ear Averaging Period Under Section 501(h). (Some organizations that made a section 501(h) election do not have to complete all of
five columns below. See the instructions for lines 46-51 for details.)
le references below are to column (b)
Part VI, Schedule A (Form 990) for
Lobbying Expenses During 4-Year Averaging Period
respective tax year)
Calendar year (or fiscal
(3)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
year beginning In)
1981
1980
1979
1978
Total
Lobbying nontaxable amount (line 6. Sch. A
(Form 990) (1978-80). line 42 (1981))
Lobbying ceiling amount (150% of line
46(e))
Total lobbying expenses (line 3, Sch. A
(Form 990) (1978-80). line 39 (1981))
Grassroots nontaxable amount (line 7. Sch. A
(Form 990) (1978-80), line 43 (1981))
Grassroots ceiling amount (150% of line
49(e))
Grassroots lobbying expenses (line 1, Sch. A
(Form 990) (1978-80). line 37 (1981))
TAX SCHEDULES
FYE 4/30/82
13-3030278
FORM 990
PASEI, LINE 9
SPECIAL FUNDRAISING EVENTS YACTIVITIES
GRASS REVENUE
SERGIO FRANCHT DINNER
40265
CHRIS MOELLER WALK-ATHON
28770
BEEFSTEAK CHARLIES DINNER
42118
BRUCE SPRIN GSTEEN CONCERT
25000
PAT BENETAR CONCERT
59971
CHARLIE DANIELS BAND CONCERT
26307
272731
DIRECTEXPENSES
SERGIO FRANCH! DINNER
31030
CHRIS MOELIER WALK-A THON
2582
BEEKSTEAK CHARLIES DINNER
10715,
4Y35
NET INCOME
22839
VIETNAM VETERANS OFAMERICA FOUNDATION
TAX SCHEDULES
FYE 4/30/82
13-3030278
RM 990
E ! PART I, LINEI
TRUBUTIONS GIFTS GRANTS, ETC,
LEONARD STEIN
5000
STEVEN VAN ZANAT
5000
CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS FOUNDATION
35000
R YE PROVISION Co.
200
CAPITAL DISTRICT CHAPTER -VA
1013
BRNCE SPRINGSTEEN
3550
SUZANNE ELIOT
150
JONATHAN GIESBERG
100
WILLIAM PENDLETON
5393
CONTRIBUTIONS-PERSONAL CONTACT
286
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS, GRANTS ETC.
55692
VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA FOUNDATION
Note 1 - Organization and Operations
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation was incorp-
orated May 5, 1980. The organization serves as
a national clearing house for information con-
cerning the Vietnam veteran and matters of con-
cern to the veteran particularly as they relate
to the Vietnam War experience. Such information
gathering includes compiling information about
books, films, plays, articles, studies, etc.
relevant to the Vietnam experience. The organ-
ization disseminates this information through
symposiums, conferences, lecture tours, plays,
and other educational and cultural expressions
including books, special publications, films,
slide shows, exhibits and others.
The organization sponsors studies and research
work on matters of concern and related to the
socio/economic welfare and readjustment of the
Vietnam-era veteran. All such research and
studies is non-partisan and for educational
purposes to foster greater understanding of
the Vietnam veteran's experiences and needs.
The organization carries out educational activ-
ities which serve to promote recognition and
appreciation by the public of the service
rendered by the Vietnam-era veteran, which
serve to eliminate prejudice and discrimin-
ation against the Vietnam-era veteran and
which serve to promote the general welfare
of the Vietnam veteran and his family.
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation is ex-
empt from Federal income tax under Section
501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
9/5/58. 5
N V NY r the 2 J
is 5 55 4 4
NG