This page is dedicated to Jennie R. Le Fevre President of
the Agent Orange Victims and Widows Support Network. We are devastated with her
loss and she will be missed by all of us. Jennie started the Agent Orange
“Quilt of Tears”. The quilt is a memorial, tribute and honor to Agent Orange
Victims, both living and dead. The project began in 1998 by Jennie R. Le Fevre.
The quilts purpose are
to draw national attention to the plight of Vietnam Veterans affected by
Agent Orange sprayed on them in
Family members of these victims are encouraged
to submit quilt blocks in honor of their loved ones. The blocks are then sewn
into quilts that are displayed at various veteran reunions and functions.
The quilts were displayed for the first time ever on the
Mall in
They were exhibited in the Salt Lake City Utah
State Capitol Rotunda for Veterans Day ceremony, where Jennie R. Le Fevre,
the President of the Agent
The last exhibit was on the banks of the
Reflecting Pool in
Our Agent Orange Victims, both living and
dead, have been forgotten by our government and this is our way to give them
the honor and respect they so richly deserve. "The Quilts of Tears"
are warmly welcomed by all who see them.
The quilts have a life of their own and speak
for themselves, adorned with victim's pictures, their
"The Quilt of Tears" have been
acknowledged and endorsed by the Agent Orange Coordinating Council of
which Admiral Zumwalt is chairman; the council consists of representatives
from all of the major veteran’s service organizations.
"The Quilts of Tears" also has received
a letter of acknowledgment and endorsement from Vietnam Veterans of America Inc.
in
The following is
Jennie’s story told by herself on her web site:
Hello to All:
I have been asked by some people to tell my story and I do so with
tears in my eyes. It is quite long, how Agent Orange has affected and destroyed
my life. Please allow me to share this with you.
Hugs and Smiles, Jennie
Agent Orange: My Story
M/Sgt. Gerald H. Le Fevre and Jennie R.
Le Fevre
I am the widow of M/Sgt. Gerald H. Le
Fevre USAF retired. My husband served in
These aircraft transported Agent Orange at least
twice a month which my husband helped load and unload with his bare hands. He
wrote to me from
My husband’s radio position was
in the cargo section of the aircraft. The planes flew in and out of bases that
had been sprayed including his own base. These
aircraft flew at low level through mists of Agent Orange, flying with the cargo
doors wide open and the mist drifted into the aircraft on many occasions.
In May of 1989, fifteen years after his
retirement from the Air Force, Jerry was diagnosed with inoperable cancer of
the lungs, liver, stomach, pancreas, lymph nodes, peritoneum, bone, diaphragm,
and omentum. The diagnosis of his cancer was adenocarcinoma of an unknown primary,
the doctor was never able to identify the original site of the cancer.
At time of death, Jerry was also
diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, degenerative joint
disease, obstructive jaundice, anemia, cardiopulmonary arrest, congestive heart
failure, emphysema, fibrous lungs, and extragondal
germ cell tumor syndrome. His chest x-rays revealed abnormal status of the
lungs showing ventilation perfusion defects involving greater than 50 percent
of his lungs.
He also had the onset of peripheral neuropathy
which was never diagnosed and he also had body rash. At time of death, he also
had kidney failure, pneumonia in both lungs,
respiratory failure and pulmonary emboli.
His death certificate states, manner of
death, as NATURAL. How can that be? They could have at least stated
Pending or Other, all of the things wrong with him was
not natural by any stretch of the imagination. He was in the military hospital
at Andrews AFB, MD for seven months. He died on
My fight with the government was to
begin before my husband was buried at
Jerry was to be buried three days
later. Two days before his burial, I received a telephone call from
I couldn’t believe my ears, what was he
saying, grave site services. He stated there would be no services in the
chapel. I proceeded to tell the officer my husband was entitled to chapel
services and that I had heard it being discussed with my own ears and I would
settle for nothing less. After much haggling and screaming on my part, two
hours later they called back and said there would be chapel services after all.
It gave me great pleasure to royally
chew out the LtCol who was giving me such a hard time. I am a USAF veteran of
the Korean war, even though it was a sad time that day, it was a great morale
booster to be able to tell that officer off and tell him I knew what my
husband’s and my rights were.
My husband was a highly decorated
serviceman with the Distinguished Flying Cross and Five Air Medals among many
others, and to tell me he was not entitled to chapel services, no way. I
literally flew into a rage.
After Jerry’s death, I put in a claim
through the DAV stating that I believed his death was caused from his exposure
to Agent Orange. For a year and a half I heard nothing from the VA, there was a
moratorium on Agent Orange claims at that time but they never notified me as
such. Then I received a letter from the VA stating that I was denied any
accrued benefits under my husband’s disability claim which he had submitted
while he was in the hospital. I found out later that the VA had not even
reviewed my husband’s medical records before denying me anything.
I checked with the hospital at Andrews AFB and found
out the VA had requested the medical records one week after they had sent me
the letter of denial. It appears that the VA’s left hand does not know what the
right hand is doing.
I later received a letter that my claim
for service connected death had also been denied. I requested a hearing, I wanted to have my say. I waited another year and
a half before I got a hearing date. The DAV, on many occasions, had refused to
return my calls of inquiry. My claim was denied again after the hearing.
The reason for denial was my husband’s
doctor had classified my husband’s cancer of an unknown primary. Plus the
pathologist who did the autopsy stated he Presumed
that my husband’s cancer was of gastric origin. Thus in the VA’s eyes, even
though Jerry had cancer of the lungs, which is on the VA’s list, they stated I
had to prove it began in the lungs. The VA concluded Jerry’s death was not due
to his exposure to Agent Orange. I was at a stand still.
Later my claim was put on the docket
for the Board of Veterans Appeals. Soon after that I made a great discovery, In going through some of Jerry’s active duty medical
records. I discovered that during an annual flight physical seven months
prior to his retirement, a doctor states Jerry has fibronodular
changes in both of his lungs. This is the same flight surgeon who gave Jerry
his retirement physical later and who also states that both lungs are abnormal.
Did the doctor tell Jerry this, I don’t
know, did Jerry ever tell me about it, no, was there ever a follow-up, no but
the doctor did classify Jerry as healthy to retire from the AF. Very strange in my opinion.
In my opinion, he should have been medically retired
but that was not the case I was sure I had my evidence that the cancer began in
the lungs. I did a lot of medical research on my own and found the active duty
lung condition my husband had, results in lung cancer. The whole time the VA
and the DAV had the information about the active duty lung condition and never
revealed it to me, they remained silent on the issue from the very beginning of
the claim.
I requested that my claim be withdrawn
from the Board of Veterans Appeals and requested another hearing to present
this new evidence. I knew that the claim would be sitting at the Board of
Veterans Appeals for at least five years or more and I was tired of waiting.
The evidence would no longer be under Agent Orange, but under a service-connected
lung condition that resulted in his death. It took another year and a half to
get a hearing date. and at the same time the DAV, once
again, was not returning my calls of inquiry.
When I went to talk to the DAV about my
discovery and asked why they had not told me about this information, they
became very angry and hostile. They suggested that if I was so unhappy with
their representation, I could change power of attorney to another service
organization if I wished. I still retained them in spite of what they said. I
was frustrated and upset with the DAV, they were
supposed to be helping me.
At my hearing, the first words out of the DAV service rep’s mouth to the hearing officer was“:
Please consider this claim under Agent Orange”. I became enraged. I stated this
claim had been denied several times under Agent Orange and that this hearing
was to present evidence for a service connected lung condition which resulted
in my husband’s death. It was not to be under Agent Orange.
At the end of the hearing, the hearing officer
stated she would consider it under Agent Orange, I became enraged again and
stated that a service connected lung condition was the issue at hand, not Agent
Orange. In my opinion, It didn't matter which one
caused it, he still died as a result of it or maybe both.
One year and three days later, {yes
they took that long] the claim was denied again because the VA had sent all the
medical records to one of their own VA doctors, who relied only on the autopsy
report. That had stated cancer Presumably of gastric
origin. I felt that the new evidence I had presented had not even been
considered at all.
I had been advised by the National
Veterans Legal Service Project that if my claim was denied this time, they
would take it over. In September of 1998, I gave them my power of attorney and
they requested a copy of my file from the VA. They are still waiting for that
copy and here it is into March of 1999.
Update Year 2000;
They now have received the file and
have told me that I need a letter from a doctor stating my husband
‘s cancer was caused from Agent Orange or that he had a condition while
on active duty that resulted in his death., They know that is impossible
because there is no doctor that will go against another doctor's opinion, so my
claim is in limbo and will probably be denied again.
In
I am still fighting, will not give up
and I have been at this for ten years, and not any further than when I was when
I first stated this claim.
In 1982, seven years after
his retirement, my husband was asked to take part in the Air Force Ranch Hand
Study, which he did. Three months after he took part, he received a letter from
them stating he had been erroneously chosen, both of us laughed and we totally
forgot it. But at the time my husband stated to me “Honey, maybe they found
something wrong with me and do not want me in the study”.
How right he was. Some time after his
death, I sent for his medical records from the study, they even tried to
exclude all of the lab tests and results until I insisted I have them. I
found in the records that he had given permission to photograph his body if
they so desired.
It also stated they could alter
anything on the photograph that they saw fit. What kind of study is
that???? How could that be a truthful study if they saw something they
didn’t like, they could alter or erase it. Did he know what he was signing, I
don’t know, they probably shoved it under his nose and said sign here.
The study showed he had damage to his
lungs, he tired easily and some other health problems, he was classified by
them as a healthy white male. I later wrote to them and asked why he was
dropped from the study but only received a vague answer. I also found out that
he was not erroneously chosen as they had stated, he met their criteria
perfectly.
The qualifications to be in the study,
as I was to discover later, was that the veteran had to be a Ranch Hand or a
crew member on C-130 aircraft, my husband was the latter. I often wondered why
C-130 crew members were considered to be in the study. Now I know.
They did not spray Agent Orange but they transported
it and handled it, just as exposed as the Ranch Hand people, if not more so. To this day. I believe they did not want him in their study
because of his health problems and that they only wanted healthy men and did
not want him as a stat on their records. I still believe this even now.
He died eight years later, I believe they could have
saved his life if they had allowed him to remain in the study.
To gain more information and
insight about my husband’s Agent Orange exposure, I wrote to one of his former
crew member, a load master, and he stated to me that the Ranch Hand Study
people had come to his home to interview him, he never heard from them again
because he believed he had too many health problems and presumed they did not
want him in their study., he has since passed away from a lung condition.
My husband had stated to me in better
and happier times, that if he ever developed cancer, he would take his own
life. One weekend, when he was home on pass from the hospital, he asked me
where was his over/under shotgun. I replied, in a safe place. I had taken it to
a neighbor for safe keeping. "End of conversation."
He also stated only once in the latter part of his
illness,” DO YOU THINK AGENT ORANGE DID THIS TO ME”, I promised him I would
check into it.
Did it cause his death, YOU BET IT DID.
And I will never forgive my Government for it.
A footnote:
All of the graves at
I have noticed in the past ten years his grave has
been re-sodded five different times. Could it
be that the dioxin in his body is eating through the casket and casket liner
and eating the grass right off his grave?
He must be saying "You may have killed me
in
Hugs and Smiles, Jennie
~The Passing Of
Our Dear One~
Jennie LeFevre
2005
Jennie’s
family would also like for everyone to know that the original Quilt that Jennie
made for her husband Gerald will also be placed at rest with Jennie &
Gerald at this time leaving the rest of the “Quilt Of Tears” in the guidance
& care of Bobby Bast, Henry, & Shelia Snyder to continue touring &
helping Veterans & their Dear Ones
To
hope is to fly.
To fly is to dream.
To dream is to believe.
To believe is to do.
To do is to give hope.
To give hope is to do
the work of angels
