My father’s war, my toxic inheritance [View all]

[rug]

In Vietnam, Agent Orange claimed hundreds of thousands of victims, including my estranged dad. Could I be one too?



SUNDAY, JUN 19, 2016 05:59 AM EDT
STEPHEN M. KATZ, MIKE HIXENBAUGH AND CHARLES ORNSTEIN, PROPUBLICA

The package from my father arrived in 2009, a few months after my latest heart surgery. The yellow envelope contained a two-inch stack of documents: handwritten notes, old photographs, newspaper clippings, medical files and military service records.

Together, they told the story of a man I barely knew. I hadn’t heard from my father, Al Weigel, in more than 20 years.

At first, I didn’t read any of it. Why would I want to rip open that wound? I tossed the envelope onto a shelf in a closet, and there it sat for years, forgotten behind a pile of clothes. I didn’t know it held information that would link my life — and health — to a war waged before my birth.

It wasn’t until 2012, not long after I’d become a father, that I remembered the envelope. I pulled it back out, figuring someday I would want to tell my son where he came from.

http://www.salon.com/2016/06/19/a_fathers_war_a_sons_toxic_inheritance_partner/