Waiting For An Army To Die























 
"Now I lay me down to sleep"
My mother taught me how to pray
She taught me how to kneel
And all the words to say.
 
To ask for God's forgiveness
And all His amazing graces.
But that was so, so long ago
Before Uncle Sam sent me to foreign places
 
"Help me God" I mumble now,
It's so hard for me to kneel.
"Please help me God", I cry at night,
"I've forgotten how to feel."
 
My mother now is dead and gone.
To Heavens Golden Streets above.
Now she walks with Jesus every day
And shares in all His love.
 
They treat us for depression,
Agent Orange and Hepatitus C.
It's a sad and tragic fact you see
These things weren't done by the enemy.
 
As for me, I feel so betrayed,
As I listen to the dead and missing cry.
Yes, betrayed by my own government.
Waiting for it's army to die.
 
 Copyright May 2002
By John "Doc" Smith

Hi Shelia
  I love the web site....... it is done
with honor and respect. It makes
me very proud to have his quilt 
block there. Steve died 4/13/02  and friends ours had the quilts bought here with Jennie in Sept 2002 to Troy Ny ( Riverfront Park) to show them at the Vietnam Memorial in Troy. His quilt panel was sent to Jenny in August of 2002 so it could be added to the quilt. At that time the quilt that his panel was on, wasn't completed, but it was shown. The day was beautiful with the quilts blowing in the light breeze the blue sky and the Hudson River in the back ground. This was all done as a fund raiser to help pay off some medical bills for Steve since the VA had discharged him 8 days before he died without telling us he was dying , nothing to help with his care and 2 days after discharge he's lungs had filled with fluid and I called 911. He was sent to a private hospital until he could be sent to VA ( no other insurance) but no one notified VA and I was made responsible for the bills. Steve spent 3 days in the hospital until hospice stepped in and he was sent home to die. He came home from a private hospital on a Thursday night and by early Saturday morning he was gone. Our friend here in NY did a fund raiser, they had 3 bands , the quilts, food, biker ride and it was wonderful. A lot of Vets attended and Jennie was wonderful. That was the first time I got to meet Jennie. Steve would of been honored. I have the agent orange bracelets 1 for me and each one of my kids. So glad you are doing the patch.
  I keep telling myself this will get better but so far it really hasn't. 
  I haven't forgotten to write something about Steve for the quilts just had so much happening and my heart and mood is not in the right place right now to get thru it, but I will as soon as I can. ( the tears keep getting the paper wet) I still love him and miss him so much. 
                              With honor and respect 
                              Barb Littell------  agent orange widow
 
Could you add to the letter one thing?  Like on his headstone "He was my life, my soul and will forever be my hero"  I always told him that. Hugs, Barb

Each unique and special quality of the individual is best enhanced when joined in common cause with others as unique and special in their own right.
 Consider each as a patch in the quilt of humanity.
 In order to make the quilt, it requires those extra special individuals who can join the patches together and produce the finished product, showing us all how much better we really
 can be when joined together in a common cause.

09/21/04 Richard G. Shuster
Life is a Patchwork Quilt©)

"He was my life,
 my soul 
 and will forever    be my hero" 
Sometimes it's the simplest things that are the hardest to say...
like I'm sorry, or we'll get through this....and sometimes it just helps to share a common bond with others who might understand....
Agent Orange Victims & 
Widows Support Network, Inc.
~~~  ~~~
Home Of The Agent Orange
"Quilt Of Tears"
   Jackie White    
  Agent Orange Widow

Visiting her husband's Quilt  with family & showing her Grandchildren
 their Grandpa's Quilt Block
A bit of the history of the Agent Orange battle
Jackie & her daughter were in the Spring Into Action March with Jennie LeFevre back a  few years ago.
The march was where Jennie was presented with the 'signature flag' that has traveled with The Quilt Of Tears ever since.

Life Is A Patchwork Quilt
In Loving Memory 
of 
Gary Michel




12-13-1946 
 ~  
9-14-2004
   Gary and I were together for 18 years. We met in Florida and got married in Texas. We lived in Texas for 5 years before we moved back to Florida. He tried to go back in the Army so our sons would not have to go to war in 1991, Desert Storm. The guy at the base kind of smiled and said “It don't work that way!” But he went back in for 2 years anyway.
 
 Gary drove truck after that and I would go with him a lot of the time. We would go many places together he didn’t want to go anywhere with out me. We never had a cross words with each other. Not even one. When he would come in off the truck on Friday if I didn't go with him he would always bring me a rose.    

Gary always marched in the Veterans Day Parade in his dress greens and he always told every one “I can still wear what I did in Vietnam!” His last year he was unable to walk and he had to ride in a truck but he had his greens on!

 He loved his dogs and cats, the more he could have the better he liked it.

 We have 3 boys, 1 girl and 13 grandkids. He told  every one “They are my kids!”  We had 2 in the military, and 1 is still in with 23 years service. We have 1 grandson in the Air Force now.

 Gary was a member of the America Legion and the VFW. The America Legion was the one that did his funeral service.

 I made a square for the Quilt of Tears and I am helping with the Silver Rose so that we can get the word out about agent orange more. I have talked to a lot of people about it and they don’t even know what I am talking about! But then again…. I didn't until about 6 years ago. 

Gary was everything to me. He has been gone for a year & a half now and I can still see him the day he died. I will all ways LOVE HIM with all my HEART.
 
                           LOVE YOU SWEETHEART
                             Your wife, Mary

~Jack F. Griffin~
~ Eugene Marbeiter~
Agent Orange...Dioxin Kills!
William Donald Ulmer
Prostate Cancer 1998

Listen to their song
"He's A Soldier"
Listen to their song
"Look At Us"

~Why I Wear My Agent Orange Bracelets~
Captain Agnes M “IRISH” Bresnahan US Army 1971-77
~SGT. Larry Crosby  of Colton, SD~
HOME
~ Dedication To The Agent Orange Widow ~
Tattoo artwork was done by Randy Adamshack of Atomic Ink in Hudson New York
In Loving Memory Of Thomas White
Tattoo Worn By Stephen Littell, Jr.
In Loving Memory Of His Father  Stephen T. Littell
~ George Bartol~
~ Stephen T. Littell~
~Waiting For An Army To Die~
A poem & dedication by
 John "Doc" Smith
~Friendly Fire ~
A Poem  by Jim Rose & Picture Called 
"Jamie's Friendly Fire"
~ Thomas White ~
~ Gary Michel ~
~ William Donald Ulmer ~
I wrote this poem from the bottom of my heart. 
My best friend died at the age of thirty-four from AO exposure.
 Doc Smith
John "Doc" Smith
"That Others May Live"
"Friendly Fire"
 
The plane came out of the dusk
flying low and fast
we had just a quick look
before it flew on past
 
From the rear of the plane
came a light colored mist
it settled down upon us 
like a mother’s sweet kiss
 
Not knowing what it was
we paid it no mind
there was still a job to do
and we were running out of time
 
That was years ago 
and half a world away
who would have thought
it would have come to this day
 
Laying in this bed
waiting to expire
knowing what killed me
was friendly fire
 
Jim Rose, President - 
Galveston County Chapter 685
Vietnam Veterans of America
President -
 Army Transportation Association Vietnam 




To read the story of this artwork
"Jamie's Friendly Fire"
created by Jamie Ellis
along with other poetry by Jim Rose 
please click here:
Dear Henry & Shelia,

Enclosed is my husband John Jones block to add to the agent orange quilts.

Please post a picture on the website so that his 3 loving sisters in Alaska may 
see it.

In the little pocket on his block holds a locket of hair from each family member, including his new grandbabies. We also included a small piece of the foundation 
of his home in Oklahoma. 

Thank you for letting us honor our loved one who meant so very much to us.

 Carolyn    

In Loving Memory
Of
John Earl Jones
~ John Earl Jones ~