Berks widow remembers veteran husband who died of effects of Agent Orange

Memorial Day has special meaning for Mary Pohl.

The holiday remembers the men and women who died while serving in the military. But Mary, 61, of Muhlenberg Township will tell you that not all those who made the ultimate sacrifice died on the battlefield or while actively serving.

Some, like her late husband, Norbert “Rufus” Pohl, continued to suffer long after they left the military and eventually died of injuries and illnesses tied to their service.

A veteran of the Vietnam War, Rufus passed away at age 74 in 2021 after decades of enduring medical problems linked to his exposure to Agent Orange.

“Agent Orange is the gift that keeps on giving,” Mary said he’d say, implying the opposite of the idiom’s meaning. “We always knew it would catch up with him eventually.”

More than 11 million gallons of the herbicide were used by the U.S. military to clear enemy cover in Vietnam. It worked very fast. Within hours of it landing on leaves and grass, they turned brown. Within a day or so, the trees would be bare.

As it was sprayed, an oily mist moistened the faces, hands and clothes of anyone in range, including an estimated 2.1 million to 4.5 million Vietnam civilians and around 2.8 million U.S. forces on the ground between 1962 and 1975.

The toxic chemical has been linked to cancer, diabetes, heart and vascular diseases, peripheral neuropathy, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions, as well birth defects in the offspring of those exposed.

Long-lasting friendship

Mary and Rufus were married about a year when at 37 he suffered the first in a series of heart attacks later linked to his exposure.

There were those who didn’t expect their relationship to survive, Mary said, but it did.

Neither was looking for romance or marriage when they met a few years earlier while volunteering for a local ambulance crew.

Mary, then a 19-year-old nursing student, was looking to gain experience with medical emergencies. Rufus, divorced and 16 years her senior, was hoping to exorcise some of the demons left by the war.

“We just started out as friends,” she said. “And that friendship we developed lasted 38 years.”

Mary was considering joining the Air Force, she told Rufus, seeking his advice.

He began sharing details of his service in the Army and Air Force in Vietnam, and sensing her compassionate nature, opened up.

“Because I was young, I didn’t know a lot about the war,” she said, “and I would sometimes ask him questions.”

Rufus was awarded the Purple Heart after being seriously wounded when hit by a grenade.

A dog trainer and handler, he served two tours of duty in Vietnam, nine months with the Army, 1 1/2 years with the Air Force. He served the second tour so he could be with his German shepherd, Rusty, Mary said.

He tried to stay for a third tour but was denied, she said. The dog stayed in Vietnam.

Circle of support

There were few besides Mary whom he could talk to about the trauma. Only the friends he met through the Berks County Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club and other veteran organizations could truly understand, she said.

Those friends stuck by Mary and Rufus throughout his illness, she said, and since his death, they remain her strongest support system.

“Veterans have a bond that is unbelievable,” she said. “I see it with the Vietnam vets motorcycle club.”

Most people didn’t want to talk about the war in the decade or so after it ended in 1975, she said. And few were talking about Agent Orange even though the military stopped using the herbicide a year after a 1969 report found it could cause birth defects in laboratory animals.

The thousands of studies that followed showed a connection between the highly toxic dioxin in Agent Orange and a number of health problems often seen in Vietnam veterans.

In 1991, Congress enacted the Agent Orange Act, which allowed the Department of Veterans Affairs to declare certain medical conditions presumptive. That means studies showed a link between those conditions and exposure to the chemical, entitling Vietnam veterans with those conditions to medical treatment and disability pay.

Rufus suffered for decades with heart issues and Parkinson’s disease linked to his service by the VA.

In his latter years, he wore an orange-colored T-shirt to symbolize the herbicide. “I was killed in Vietnam, I just haven’t died yet,” it read on the back.

Despite his medical challenges, her husband stayed active in the motorcycle group and participated in other veteran organizations, including the Vietnam War Dog Handlers Association and the Vietnam Security Police Association.

The couple’s favorite getaway was with other members of the motorcycle club. The group has a 30-acre campground in Juniata County. It’s a place where veterans and their partners can be themselves and relax, Mary said.

“It’s really a brotherhood up there,” she said. “We sit around the campfire and some of the guys will get a harmonica or guitar out. It’s just very comforting to see them together.”

The campground has a dedicated area where the cremains of deceased members are scattered and memorial services are held. That’s where Mary and the other widows go to grieve and remember with the surviving club members.

They were there for National Vietnam War Veterans Day on March 29, she said, and they will be there for Memorial Day.

“We try to support each other,” Mary said, “because there’s nothing easy about all this.”

Berks County Agent Orange and War Dog Memorial

Mary Pohl is among those advocating for memorials for Vietnam veterans who died of or were disabled by exposure to Agent Orange, and for Vietnam war dogs and their handlers. The memorials would be an extension of the Vietnam War Memorial in Reading’s City Park.

For more information, visit the Berks County Agent Orange and War Dog Memorials Facebook page.

Source: Berkshire mont