This Portrait Series Of Agent Orange Victims Will Break Your Heart

Between 1961 and 1975, the United States waged war against the Viet Cong and their allies, and in the process defoliated the land and forests of Vietnam, as well as parts of Laos and Cambodia, with a toxic chemical cocktail known as Agent Orange ^[1] . More than 50 years since the U.S. first launched its chemical warfare program in the Southeast Asian region, the tragedy of that brutal campaign lingers.

This week, about a fortnight after the 52nd anniversary of the start of the chemical warfare campaign in and around Vietnam, a heartbreaking photo series that captures the agony of Agent Orange victims has gone ^[2] viral ^[3] . Originally shot by American photographer Brian Driscoll ^[4] back in the summer of 2008, the series -- entitled "Will It Ever End?"^[5] -- remains relevant and jarringly powerful, telling the stories of the ongoing tragedy of the people and their offspring whose lives continue to be ravaged by the destructive poison.

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Citing numbers provided by the Vietnam Red Cross, the McClatchy Foreign Press reported in July that an estimated 3 million people spanning three generations have been affected by Agent Orange ^[6] . At least 150,000 of these cases have been children born with severe birth defects since the war's end in 1975.

As Margorie Cohn, a professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, noted earlier this month, there is medical evidence to suggest that "certain cancers (for example, soft tissue non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma), diabetes (type II) and in children spina bifida and other serious birth defects"^[7] are linked to the Agent Orange chemical mix, which contained dioxin, or as Cohn calls it, the "most toxic chemical known to science."

agent orange 1

Phirum Ung, 5, a third-generation Agent Orange victim, naps in a hammock at home in Beng Melea Province, Siem Reap, Cambodia. Most of his days are spent with his mother panhandling at the Angkor Wat Temples. Phirum Ung was born in southeastern Cambodia, where thousands of acres were sprayed with Agent Orange. (Credit: Brian Driscoll)

agent orange 2

A former Viet Cong soldier and father stands behind his son, Nguyen Van Dung, 12, at home in the Kim Dong district of Hai Phong, Vietnam. Nguyen is tied by the hands because he compulsively tears at his own face. (Credit: Brian Driscoll)

agent orange 3

Nguyen and Hung Vuong Pham, 14 and 15 respectively, await their daily routine of eating and bathing in the Kim Dong district of Hai Phong, Vietnam. Their days are occupied watching people pass by the front area of their home. (Credit: Brian Driscoll)

agent orange 4

Third-generation Agent Orange victim Nguyen Pham, 11, who is deaf, blind and cannot speak, has been bedridden for a great portion of his life. Nguyen's mother stands by his side at home in the district of Chi Linh, Vietnam. (Credit: Brian Driscoll)

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Huong Nghiem, 8, a third-generation Agent Orange victim, is being held by her mother in the doorway of their home in the Tran Cao Van district, Hoi An, Vietnam. (Credit: Brian Driscoll)

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A makeshift wheelchair for a victim of Agent Orange, in the Phuong Son district, Nha Trang, Vietnam. (Credit: Brian Driscoll)

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Nguyen Quang, 11, on his bed at home in the Kim Dong district of Hai Phong, Vietnam. Village presidents believe most of the children to be third-generation Agent Orange victims due to the commonality in mental disorders and physical deformities. (Credit: Brian Driscoll)

Driscoll told The Huffington Post via email this week that he decided to embark on this photo project after being inspired by stories about Agent Orange victims, as well as his uncle, a Vietnam veteran who was possibly exposed to dioxin during the war.

"I was interested in exploring and uncovering stories that covered a good portion of the country instead of telling one particular story," he said. "Bearing witness to the children that I have encountered, I feel it's vital to continue to raise awareness about the effects of war and how families are coping with the distress years later."

(Hat tip, Daily Mail)

^[8]

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In this June 1970 file photo, taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, south Vietnamese Marines rush to the point where descending U.S. Army helicopter will pick them up after a sweep east of the Cambodian town of Prey-Veng during the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

In this June 11, 1963 file photo, one of a series taken by then AP Saigon correspondent Malcom Browne, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk, burns himself to death on a Saigon street to protest alleged persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. (AP Photo/Malcolm Browne)

In this Sept. 14, 1973 file photo, released prisoner of war John McCain is greeted by President Richard Nixon, left, in Washington. (AP Photo, File)

In this June 8, 1972 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, a Vietnamese grandmother carries her severely burned one-year-old grandson down Route 1 after a misdirected napalm attack by South Vietnamese pilots in the village of Trang Bang, South Vietnam. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

This March 17, 1973 file photo shows released prisoner of war Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm being greeted by his family at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., as he returns home from the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Sal Veder, File)

In this March 29, 1973 file photo, Unidentified U.S. prisoners of war stand in the courtyard of Hanoi's POW camp at Nga Tu So street waiting for an inspection of the camp by joint military and international control and supervision commissions. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File)

In this April 11, 1969 file photo made by George McArthur, a South Vietnamese militiaman, wearing a handkerchief to ward off the odors, probes the rubble to free a body from the ruins of the Tay Ninh Provincial military headquarters area after an area of about nine city blocks was leveled when Viet Cong rockets blew up a 200-ton ammunition dump. (AP Photo/George McArthur)

In this Thursday, March 30, 1973 photo, As the last 55 troops to leave Vietnam debarked their Air Force C-141 at Travis Air Force Base. (AP Photo)

In this April 2, 1973 photo, President Richard Nixon and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu are in profile as they listen to national anthems during arrival ceremonies for Thieu at the Western White House in San Clemente, Calif. (AP Photo)

In this Wednesday, April 12, 1973 photo, Daniel Ellsberg, co-defendant in the Pentagon Papers trial, talks with newsmen after he testified in Los Angeles. (AP Photo)

In this March 27, 1973 photo, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese members of the joint military commission, foreground, shoot photos of U.S. troops as they board an Air Force plane for the flight home from Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Air Base. (AP Photo/Neal Ulevich)

In this early 1968 file photo, taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, journalists photograph a body in the Saigon area in early 1968, during the Tet Offensive. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

In this March 29, 1973 file photo, the American flag is furled at a ceremony marking official deactivation of the Military Assistance Command-Vietnam (MACV) in Saigon, after more than 11 years in South Vietnam. (AP Photo/Charles Harrity, File)

This Aug. 1963 photo shows Tran Le Xuan, known as Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu in unknown location. (AP Photo/File)

B52 high altitude bombers leave condensation trails while passing the town of Cai Lay in the Mekong Delta on Sept. 29, 1972, moments after unleashing bombs on a suspected enemy positions. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

In this June 8, 1972 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, Television crews and South Vietnamese troops surround 9-year-old Kim Phuc on Route 1 near Trang Bang, South Vietnam, after she was burned by a misdirected aerial napalm attack. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

In this June 8, 1972 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, a Vietnamese man and woman carry severely burned children down Route 1 after a misdirected napalm attack by South Vietnamese pilots in the village of Trang Bang, South Vietnam. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

This June 8, 1972 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, shows bombs with a mixture of napalm and white phosphorus jelly dropped by Vietnamese Air Force Skyraider bombers explode across Route 1, amidst homes and in front of the Cao Dai temple on the outskirts of Trang Bang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

In this early 1968 file photo taken by Associated Press photographer, Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, the body of a man lies beside a road in the Saigon area of Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

This Sept. 20, 1970, file photo taken by Associated Press photographer, Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, shows a Cambodian soldier on an operation in Vietnam. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

In this August 20, 1970, file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, a line of South Vietnamese marines moves across a shallow branch of the Mekong River during an operation near Neak Luong, Cambodia. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

In this May 8, 1970, file photo taken by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, a South Vietnamese tank crew abandons tank after it was hit by B40 rockets and automatic weapons two miles north of Svay Rieng in eastern Cambodia. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

In this April 6, 1969, file photo, taken by Associated Press Photographer Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, youthful civil defense militiamen leap into the flooded Nipa Palm grove near Saigon, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)