The VA's Broken Promise To Thousands Of Vets Exposed To Mustard Gas
In secret chemical weapons experiments conducted during World War II, the U.S. military exposed thousands of American troops to mustard gas.
When those experiments were formally declassified in the 1990s, the Department of Veterans Affairs made two promises: to locate about 4,000 men who were used in the most extreme tests, and to compensate those who had permanent injuries.
But the VA didn't uphold those promises, an NPR investigation has found.
NPR interviewed more than 40 living test subjects and family members, and they describe an unending cycle of appeals and denials as they struggled to get government benefits for mustard gas exposure. Some gave up out of frustration.
In more than 20 years, the VA attempted to reach just 610 of the men, with a single letter sent in the mail. Brad Flohr, a VA senior adviser for benefits, says the agency couldn't find the rest, because military records of the experiments were incomplete.
"There was no identifying information," he says. "No Social Security numbers, no addresses, no ... way of identifying them. Although, we tried."
Yet in just two months, an NPR research librarian located more than 1,200 of them, using the VA's own list of test subjects and public records.
The mustard gas experiments were conducted at a time when American intelligence showed that enemy gas attacks were imminent. The tests evaluated protective equipment like gas masks and suits. They also compared the relative sensitivity of soldiers, including tests designed to look for racial difference.
The test subjects who are still alive are now in their 80s and 90s. Each year more of their stories die with them.
"We weren't told what it was," says Charlie Cavell, who was 19 when he volunteered for the program in exchange for two weeks' vacation. "Until we actually got into the process of being in that room and realized, wait a minute, we can't get out of here."
Cavell and 11 other volunteers were locked inside a gas chamber with mustard gas piping inside. Blocks of ice sat on shelves overhead with fans blowing across them to increase the humidity in the room, which intensified mustard gas's effects on the body. After an hour, the officer released six of the men back to their barracks. Cavell and five others were told to stay put.
Inside the chamber, Cavell's skin started to turn red and burn in the places where he sweat the most: between his legs, behind his neck and under his arms. Blisters that eventually increased to the size of half dollar coins started to grow in the same places. At the end of the second hour, the officer ordered Cavell back to his barracks and to continue wearing his gas-saturated uniform.
Cavell, now 88 years old, says the officer threatened him and the other test subjects: If they told anyone about their knowledge or participation in the experiments, they would receive a dishonorable discharge and be sent to military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
"They put the fear of God in just a bunch of young kids," he says.
These experiments with mustard gas were conducted by the Army and Navy at more than a dozen locations. Some test subjects had only partial exposure, such as having the chemical agents applied directly onto their skin. Others were locked in gas chambers, like Cavell. A third type of test exposed troops to gas outdoors in simulated combat settings.
In all, roughly 60,000 World War II veterans were used as test subjects, and they kept the experiments secret for half a century. A group of them, led by Nat Schnurman, went public with their stories in 1990.
Schnurman, who died in 2013 when he was 87, had suffered debilitating injuries after being tested at the U.S. Naval Training Center in Bainbridge, Md. He filed a federal lawsuit for compensation in 1979, but was unsuccessful because of a legal doctrine that protects the military from being sued for service-related injuries. Schnurman and his wife, Joy, spent the next two decades compiling evidence of the testing in order to put pressure on the military.
When the story broke, VA Deputy Secretary Anthony Principi appeared on 60 Minutes, in 1991, to explain how the agency would respond to men who were injured in the tests: "They should be praised for what they did," Principi said on the CBS News program. "And as far as the secretary and I are concerned, we're about to do right by them."
More than 20 years later, the VA has attempted to contact fewer than a quarter of the thousands it said it would.
One of the men who never heard from the VA was John Berzellini. His wife, Irene, remembers how the experiments affected his health for the rest of his life.
"I remember him laying up in the bedroom up there," she says.
Berzellini says every winter her husband spent weeks in bed with chronic bronchitis — an illness government studies have linked to mustard gas exposure. She says they didn't know that he was eligible for disability benefits when he died of a heart attack in 1995.
In the early 1990s, VA officials also announced the agency would lower its burden of proof to make getting benefits easier in these cases. The process typically relies on evidence, but most of the men in these experiments have none because the tests were done in secret.
"This is not an easy, not a simple thing," Flohr says. "But we have done everything that we could do, I definitely believe that."
The VA created a list of illnesses that are linked to mustard gas exposure — such as skin cancer, leukemia and chronic breathing problems. According to the agency, if a veteran has an illness on the list and can prove he was exposed, he receives benefits.
But NPR interviewed veterans who met both of those requirements and have still been denied for years — sometimes decades — as the VA continues to request more information and proof.
Cavell says that even today, when he comes to a locked door he's reminded of the inside of a gas chamber.
"There was no handle on the door. You couldn't get out," he says. "And that's what I have problems with today. If I go to a locked door, I panic sometimes to try to get out."
In 1988, Cavell requested copies of his records from the experiments he was in at the Naval Research Laboratory. Researchers there had recorded his full name in neat handwriting on lined paper. They had detailed the length of time he spent inside a gas chamber and the level of mustard gas in the air.
Cavell then submitted the documents to the VA as proof of his exposure. He filed claims for several illnesses on the VA's list of those linked to mustard gas, including skin cancer and chronic breathing problems. But until NPR inquired about his case, all of those claims had been denied.
After NPR's inquiry, the VA told NPR there was enough evidence to grant his claims. They based that conclusion on the same information that had been sitting in his VA file for decades. Officials say they can't explain why the benefits weren't granted sooner. Cavell is currently being re-evaluated before the benefits can be disbursed.
Former CIA Director Porter Goss says the VA has mishandled these claims. Goss was a Florida congressman when he was contacted by a group of constituents who were used as test subjects and spoke out on their behalf. "This should have been ancient history by now," he told NPR. "And these people should have long been appropriately provided for."
Goss says he thinks the VA never delivered on its promises because this issue has been disappearing on its own for years. About 500 World War II veterans die each day, according to data maintained by the VA. "I do think there is a little bit of that attitude of: 'This is today's problem, it will be gone by tomorrow,' " Goss says. "But this is a bargain we made. And this goes to the essence of 'Can you trust your government?' And in this case I'm afraid the answer is not yet."
Flohr tells NPR his agency has followed federal statutes in its handling of claims for mustard gas exposure. But Goss says that excuse is at the core of all that is dysfunctional in Washington bureaucracies. "I don't think there's an explanation for why this program wasn't more successful," Goss says. "If I were back in Congress, I'd be asking that question."
Congress has intervened in similar situations. It passed the Agent Orange Act in 1991, which requires the VA to assume that all veterans who served in and around Vietnam were exposed to the chemical. And in 2010, the VA announced it would review 90,000 previously denied Agent Orange claims. To date, these policies have not been applied to World War II vets who were exposed to mustard gas.
Officials at the Pentagon tell NPR it's likely that some of the records about military mustard gas experiments were never recovered. And yet Flohr insists the VA still needs proof in order to grant claims.
"I'm sorry," Flohr says. "But the only thing we can do is follow our statutes and regulations."
Those regulations have kept veterans like Harry Bollinger, 88, from receiving benefits. Bollinger still has chronic breathing problems and breaks out in eczema in places where he was burned as a young Navy recruit:
"Around my privates and under my arms and face and everywhere else," he says.
Bollinger gave up appealing VA rejections in 1994, after four years of traveling back and forth 30 miles to a VA office office in Pittsburgh. Then, in 1996, Bollinger received a military commendation in the mail. The document acknowledges his participation in mustard gas experiments. But Bollinger says he wouldn't go back to the agency after the way he was treated there.
"I was disgusted already. What's the use?" he says.
A tattered ball cap that says World War II veteran hangs by the front door in his house. He says he is proud of his service, and he wears the cap everywhere he goes. But Bollinger says that time in his life is tainted: by the pain he felt as a human test subject in military experiments, and by the VA that told him it wasn't real.
"That's going to be on my tombstone," Bollinger says. "U.S. Navy, Guinea Pig. That won't be too long now probably."
NPR Investigations Research Librarian Barbara Van Woerkom contributed reporting and research to this investigation. NPR Photo Editor Ariel Zambelich and reporters Christopher Groskopf, Jani Actman and Lydia Emmanouilidou also contributed to this story.
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Transcript
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Seventy years after the end of World War II, the U.S. military is still reckoning with experiments it conducted during that war on its own troops. Enlisted men, 60,000 of them, were secretly exposed to mustard gas. That's a toxic chemical with long-lasting health effects. The VA promised to compensate those men for their injuries more than 20 years ago, but an NPR investigation has found that promise was broken. Many of those vets died without benefits. Some are now in their late 80s and early 90s and still waiting. NPR's Caitlin Dickerson reports.
CAITLIN DICKERSON, BYLINE: American military officials called mustard king of the gases, and they used enlisted men as human test subjects to learn more about it.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: You're looking at 70,000 drums of mustard gas, which is just a part of what we're holding for the day when the Japs or Germans want to start something.
DICKERSON: This training video showed young recruits how the U.S. was preparing to face gas attacks on the battlefield and to use gas on its enemies.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: However, the big day is still to come. It'll be when Hitler, with his back to the wall, frantically uses gas as a last resort. That will be the climax in this war and, depending upon what happens then, may wrest the outcome.
DICKERSON: Charlie Cavell volunteered for the program right out of boot camp. He was 19 years old. Cavell wasn't told what it was, but he was offered two weeks' vacation and an official award in exchange. He was sent to the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. On the first day, an officer handed Cavell and 11 other sailors each a jumpsuit and a mask. The officer told them to suit up and walked them into a small room.
CHARLIE CAVELL: We volunteered for the service, but we weren't told what it was until we got into the process of actually being in that room and realizing, wait a minute, we can't get out of here.
DICKERSON: The men were inside of a heated gas chamber. It was 98 degrees. Cavell sat there sweating for two hours.
CAVELL: Twelve people was in there, and they kept injecting more gas in there to keep that level up.
DICKERSON: Afterward, back in his barracks, Cavell's skin started to blister and burn. But what he didn't know was that mustard gas had already reacted with his DNA and caused irreversible damage to his health. Cavell's commanding officer ordered the group to repeat the exercise every day for a week. He swore them all to secrecy and threatened them with dishonorable discharge and prison time at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
CAVELL: I don't want to go to Leavenworth, and I don't want dishonorable discharge, so I say put the fear of God in just a bunch of young kids.
DICKERSON: He says they put the fear of God in just a bunch of young kids, and it worked. Cavell and 60,000 other test subjects kept the government's secret for half a century. And ultimately, gas attacks never came in World War II. The only Americans injured by mustard gas were exposed to it by their own country. These men are now in their late 80s and early 90s, and every year, more of their stories die with them.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: We used a sealed room, which was about the size of a school bus.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: And guys were in their screaming and hollering and let me out. Just felt like you were on fire.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: And he started throwing up, and he wanted to get out of it, but they would not let him until the time was finished.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: I spent two weeks in the infirmary recovering because the blisters on my back were anywhere from a quarter to a half a dollar in a size.
DICKERSON: Those are just some of the test subjects and family members we spoke to for this story. The military was forced to admit to these tests for the first time in 1991. A small group of veterans had gone public with their stories, so the military released the men from their oaths of secrecy and declassified test records. And this is when the Veterans Administration started making promises. First, the VA said it would contact 4,000 vets who were used in the most extreme experiments. The VA deemed that group eligible to apply for benefits. Second, the VA said it would make the process of applying for benefits easier. And this is important because that process typically relies on proof. And a lot of these men don't have any proof because the experiments were classified. But an NPR investigation has found the VA didn't keep either of those promises.
BRAD FLOHR: This is not an easy - not a simple thing. But we have done everything that we could do. I definitely believe that.
DICKERSON: The VA stands by the way it has dealt with this issue. That was Brad Flohr. He's a VA senior adviser for benefits. But the VA didn't contact the 4,000 test subjects. In more than 20 years, they only reached out to 610. Each one was sent a single letter in the mail. Flohr says his agency couldn't find the other men. They placed ads in veterans' magazines because he said military records of the tests were incomplete.
FLOHR: There was no identifying information - no Social Security numbers, no addresses, no any way of identifying them, although we tried.
DICKERSON: But an NPR research librarian found more than 1,200 of them in less than two months. She used the VA's own list of test subjects and public records. And as for that second promise to make the benefits process easier - to do that, the VA created a list of illnesses that are linked to mustard gas exposure, things like skin cancer, leukemia, emphysema, asthma. Then, if a veteran had an illness on the list and could prove he was exposed, he would automatically get benefits. But most veterans can't prove they were exposed, and even those who do have evidence have gotten stuck in a cycle of denials and appeals that goes on for years, sometimes decades, as the VA asks for more information and proof that these vets and their families just don't have.
CAVELL: It's just kind of hard to bring this stuff back up. It's just a bad experience.
DICKERSON: Charlie Cavell says that even today, when he comes to a locked door, he's reminded of the inside of a gas chamber.
CAVELL: There was no door - doorknobs, doorknobs. And that's what I have problems with today. I go to a locked door, I panic sometimes to try to get out.
DICKERSON: Cavell has copies of laboratory notebooks from the experiments he was in. The researchers wrote down his name. They described the length of time he spent inside a gas chamber and the level of mustard gas in the air. Cavell presented them to the VA in 1988, and he's filed claims for several illnesses on the VA's automatic list linked to mustard gas. But until NPR inquired about his case, all of those claims had been denied.
CAVELL: They say, well, you know, you can appeal this, but now we need more information. So where am I going to get it from? So that's just impossible.
DICKERSON: After NPR inquired about Cavell's case, the VA decided it did have enough evidence to grant his claims after all. They used documents that had been sitting in his VA file for decades. Officials said they couldn't explain why the benefits weren't granted sooner. The former director of the CIA says the VA's mishandling of these claims is an outrage. Here's Porter Goss.
PORTER GOSS: They got about a tenth of the job done, and this was a quarter of a century ago.
DICKERSON: Goss became a vocal champion of these men when he was a member of Congress. He had been contacted by a group of constituents who were used as test subjects.
GOSS: And I do think there's a little bit of that attitude of, well, this is today's problem, but it'll be gone by tomorrow. It's only a few people now, and they're older, and what difference does it make? Well, it makes a huge difference because this is a bargain we made, and this goes to the essence of can you trust your government? And in this case, I'm afraid the answer is not yet.
DICKERSON: But the VA's benefits adviser, Brad Flohr, says his agency still needs proof in order to grant these claims.
FLOHR: I still can't fault VA for going through this because that is what we are required to do.
DICKERSON: I guess I just want to understand why veterans are being asked to prove something that the military can't even prove. Does that add up for you?
FLOHR: That's a difficult - it's difficult because of the length of time, and record keeping was not good. And again, I'm sorry, but the only thing we can do is follow our statutes and regulations. We need to get to a point where it's at least a reasonable doubt so we can grant that claim.
HARRY BOLLINGER: Could you hand me some of them papers over there?
DICKERSON: Sure. This one?
BOLLINGER: I'm looking for one with the doctors on it.
DICKERSON: Harry Bollinger is sitting at home in Freeport, Pa. He's 88.
BOLLINGER: It's hell to get old.
DICKERSON: He's shuffling through piles of documents he used to try to prove his case to the VA. He still has breathing problems and breaks out in eczema in the places where he was burned by mustard gas as a young sailor.
BOLLINGER: Around my privates and under my arms and face and everything else.
DICKERSON: Bollinger spent four years appealing VA rejections. He finally gave up in 1994. Two years later, under pressure from Congress, the military sent out about 700 awards to men who were used as test subjects. Bollinger got one. It's another piece of evidence that could've helped prove his case to the VA. But, he says, he wouldn't go back after the way he was treated there.
BOLLINGER: I was disgusted already. I wasn't about to go back. What was the use?
DICKERSON: Bollinger says he's proud of his service, but he says the memory of that time in his life is tainted by the pain he felt as a human test subject in military experiments and by the VA who told him it wasn't real.
BOLLINGER: That's going to be on my tombstone, too, U.S. Navy, guinea pig. That won't be too long now probably.
DICKERSON: The VA estimates about 500 World War II veterans die every day. Before long, the tens of thousands of them who were secretly tested with mustard gas will all be gone. Caitlin Dickerson, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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