War & Paradise: The Territories Of The U.S.

Johnston Atoll Is Where Agent Orange Is Disposed

Despite its innocuous name, Agent Orange is among the deadliest chemicals to have been employed by the United States in warfare. During the war, airplanes and bombers sprayed nearly 20,000,000 gallons of this herbicide onto Vietnam in order to destroy the forest cover. Four million Vietnamese and American civilians and soldiers exposed to Agent Orange have reported illness including nerve damage, cancer, and monstrous birth defects. With such grim reports, the military what they thought was best, and that was to store the rusting, leaking barrels of Agent Orange on Johnston Atoll. Sadly, to this day, mutated marine animals surrounding the pristine coral reefs are far more prevalent at Johnston Atoll than anywhere else.