“The men in my unit and I sprayed around 300-500 drums of Agent Orange and monuron around our camps, on the banks of the Imjin River, on Freedom Bridge and on roads in the DMZ at that time,” said Steward. “We did this in order to secure visibility over areas of North Korea and to remove weeds from around the barracks.”
Neither he nor his subordinates, however, knew at the time how dangerous defoliant was. They washed themselves and drank water right next to where they had sprayed it.
As he fought with both his illnesses and VA, he felt the promise he had made to his subordinates 40 years ago gradually coming back. In April 1969, he had promised before 285 subordinates, “If you follow my orders, I will take full responsibility for you.” His men faithfully carried out their duties.
“I set out to find my men again five years ago, after I started wondering, if I was in this state despite not even having sprayed defoliant myself, how must the men who sprayed it with their own hands [on my orders] be?” he said. He posted a message on a former USFK personnel website and made contact with one person at a time.
He is still pursuing VA on behalf of his former subordinates, however, applying for defoliant-related damages and reassessments, gathering old documents and evidence, and meeting and appealing to government officials and lawmakers.
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