Tear Gas and Agent Orange

Have you ever experienced inhaling tear gas?  I have many times during my childhood in Thac Da village.  I did not know how or why it happened or who was it coming from.


The picture to the left is of  Vietnamese Agent Orange victims.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlascar/4607344945/  The North Vietnamese display this in Ho Chi Minh City to criticize the U.S. for its use in the Vietnam War. 


The villagers were just going about their daily business, and then we would first sense this strong smell in the wind blowing by our neighborhood.  My mom would rush us all to the well. She would wet cloths and pass it along to all of us.  We then rushed to brook  where there were water and lots of wind to help us deal with our breathing better.

This was the most horrifying smell of all.  As we breathed, it would follow in to our nostrils, down our throats, our eyes would tear and we felt like we were going to die of gagging .  I do not know how to describe this feeling except  I know it was horrible and do not ever wish this upon anybody.

Today,  sometimes my sisters and I  visit with each other.  As we grow older, we seem to forget
things, but we often tease one another that we are not old, we are just having side effects from "tear gas and Agent Orange."