ITWeek: Rainbow Death

This is the response for Term 2 IT Home Learning for "Rainbow Death" war poem.

Rainbow Death
America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson

Task 1: Introduction to the Poem
Rumours persist of still another more toxic colour coded herbicide at the end of this deadly rainbow! This small poem speaks of a modern day ingredient of warfare that has caused appalling death and suffering – not only to its intended victims, the Vietnamese people, but also the service personnel that used or even just came into contact with “Agent Orange”. From Wikipedia, Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant—contaminated with TCDD—used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects. 

From 1962 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins.”

Author's Note:
"I am a Vietnam War veteran (as are my four brothers) who served in the USAF Security Service.  I, along with a dozen or so intelligence school grads, prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB  in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in southeat Asia in 1970.  About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron.  The rest of us were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a MORE contaminated environment than Da Nang! 
My health problems started approximately 15 years ago with unexplained headaches and limb pains.  Four years ago my central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc.  No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness.  NO VA physician has ever rendered ANY medical assistance!  My number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during my year there as an intelligence analyst.  Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.

Since my brain still functions moderately well (and I have mobility issues), I have turned to writing just like my late Father and the late singer (and writer) Johnny Cash."


Task 2: Poem Analysis
This poem was written in the point of view of an American soldier, which is also a first-person account of the poet, who served in the USAF Security Service and was affected by the war. The event is set back during the Vietnam War, where America used huge amounts of "Agent Orange" spray which affected the Vietnamese people even until today.

In the first stanza, America wanted to make Vietnam "pay a high price" for trying to invade them and hence produced herbicide of different colours to destroy Vietnam's plant-based ecosystem, hence the title "Rainbow Death", due to the code names of the different dangerous chemicals used by America. The poet also uses special diction like 'potpourri', which means a collection of miscellaneous or diverse items. Here, it stands for a mixture and collection of deaths during the war. There is a mention of "green, pink, purple and other colours", once again linking back to the title of "rainbow". America is personified in the first and third lines of the first stanza, "did not foresee" and "expecting others to pay a high price". America used these chemicals, especially Agent Orange, to make them pay. The question "Now thinking twice?" has a sense of sarcasm as it questions if America regret the fact that Vietnam had to pay a price way higher than expected, but even if they do, it is too late to undo what has been done. "Toll" signifies an amount or extend of loss or destruction, which implies death of the millions of innocent people and even unborn babies.

The second stanza continues to elaborate the consequences in Vietnam of Agent Orange during the war, including "illness, birth defects and prematurely dead". This also shows that not only the targeted people are affected; "Generations untold will pay" and even the unborn and the future generations suffer the same fate despite being not involved in the war at all. "Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn" shows the superiority of America over Vietnam. While this happens, "all the deceit continues to spread". America is one of the greatest and influential countries at that time and using such chemicals to deal with other countries leave a bad impression. "Nefariously America led astray" the other countries, thinking that their actions would be acceptable. The last line of the poem mentions the "agent orange spray" for the first time, the culprit for all the illnesses and defects in Vietnam, and describes the effects as "execrable", which is very bad and terrible.