For 21 months Darrell Wick sailed on the USS Intrepid during the Vietnam War, serving in several areas on board the ship including pest control. In 2009, he began showing signs of Parkinson’s disease and in 2011 filed his first claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs for service-connected disability.
After a lengthy wait the VA responded in January 2013 with a denial-of-service as according to the letter, “…the veteran did not serve in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam Era.”
When you ask Wick whether he served in Vietnam he’ll tell you, ”I have the papers to prove it.”
His military discharge document DD-214 clearly shows his service on the ship during the Vietnam era and a photo taken in September 1968 on board the ship with fellow sailors shows he was there too.
Since his diagnosis in 2009, Wick’s wife Ruby does a lot of the speaking for him as the debilitating nature of the disease makes clear communication a challenge.
With the knowledge that fellow shipmates had filed and received benefits, the Wicks did not give up hope in filing appeals. In addition, they say they answer every letter from the VA in Cleveland asking for additional information, even though they’ve sent the same information dozens of times.
In recent years, Wick and his wife started coming to the Veterans Social Command weekly gatherings. The social group that meets at Encounter Church off Hamilton Trenton Road brings veterans of many generations together for conversation and a good meal. The other side of the group helps veterans navigate the paperwork to file with the VA to receive compensation and benefits.
“There's five of them that usually are in the back room, one guy will help with just looking the research up,” said Dennis Kearns, who founded the group. “All they want to do is help another vet get what they deserve. We served our country with honor. And that's what this organization is honorable, to get all the facts out so that everyone is served, gets their rightful due.”
The case with Wick has been one of frustration for the researchers.
“April till now we've been really pounding away trying to get the VA to understand that he's earned and is entitled to the benefits that every Vietnam veteran has,” Lee Monti said. “He has the same medals. We've tried to look under every rock. And that's why, you know, we brought you forth, you can help us get to where we need to go.”
The Wicks held out hope in 2019 when the Blue Water Navy Act passed which opened the door for benefits and compensation tied to presumptive conditions toed to defoliate exposure for members of the military who served on ships and boats within the territorial waters of Vietnam.
It was determined herbicides, like Agent Orange, made their way from land into the streams and rivers and eventually flowed out into the open ocean waters. US ships would intake ocean water for use on board the vessels for use with everything from showering to cooking.
Despite the new law, the Wicks were no further toward resolving the situation or their case.
“No. Continue to deny,” Ruby Wick said.
WCPO reached out to the Department of Veterans Affairs to get clarification on Wick’s situation.
The VA's reply came via email in which they stated, “In Mr. Wick’s case, a companion review was conducted, which concluded that VA was unable to concede his exposure to herbicides based on the nautical location of the vessel he served on. This was done by review of the USS Intrepid deck logs and ship logbooks, which did not show that the USS Intrepid entered eligible waters while he was aboard.”
WCPO downloaded the ship's deck logs and collected the navigation coordinates listed in each entry through each day during the time Wick served on board the Intrepid. While the USS Intrepid appears to have stayed outside of the 12 nautical miles associated with territorial waters mentioned in the Blue Water Navy Act of 2019, there is one entry on Sept. 8, 1968, that appears to show the ship inside the 12NM area covered under the 2019 law.
WCPO has sent this information to the VA and is currently awaiting a response.
Meanwhile, Wick is hoping to get what he says he’s due before he dies from the disease that is slowly taking away his life and could leave his wife Ruby without any benefits as a surviving military spouse.
“I’m not greedy,” Wick said. “But give me what I’m due.”
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