We are the Fire Swept.
44
LEST WE FORGET
Hospitalman Russell H. Jacobson lay among the seriously wounded. Hit more than a dozen times as he raced up and down the FIRE-SWEPT TRAIL to pull casualties to safety, the “doc” had finally been felled when a slug ripped into his right hip, destroying it.
Edward F. Murphy, The Hill Fights (Presidio Press, 2003), p. 44
I started telling my dad's story for his legacy, for closure, and to finally understand what he went through.
Then I realized I'm one of countless families with a story like his. Stories that will be forgotten one day unless someone writes them down.
We cannot forget what you and your families went through for this country. Find yours below, or tell me who you carry with you.
The archive
Add to any story, correct it, or ask me to remove it. Medical details and photos stay private unless you say otherwise.
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Or by last name
Snapshot
A snapshot of the comments I've read so far, not a scientific study. These are experiences families shared, not medical findings.
Fire Swept Trail preserves stories as veterans and families experienced them. Some information is supported by official records. Some is family or witness testimony and may not be verified yet. I label the source whenever I can.
This archive is for remembrance, discovery and connection. It doesn't certify medical causes, decide service connection, determine benefits, or replace official records. Where an official memorial or record exists, I'll link to it.
"Not verified" means this project hasn't documented it yet. It doesn't mean it's unimportant or untrue.
Someone helped my family through this. She is our local veterans advocate, and she has helped a lot of families like ours. Your town should have someone like her too. Because of her, we learned something nobody had ever told us.
We are a family that stays on top of things. And we still would have missed this.
If your loved one served in Vietnam and later died of an illness tied to Agent Orange, their surviving spouse may be owed a monthly payment from the VA. It is called DIC, Dependency and Indemnity Compensation. It is tax free. Right now the base amount is about $1,699 a month, and more if your veteran was rated fully disabled for years before he passed.
A lot of families who are owed this never claim it. Not because they did not care, but because no one ever told them it existed. That is not your fault. It was never your job to call the government every week looking for updates. You are not dumb for not knowing this. Nobody told you.
The rules have also changed a lot in the last few years. People who were turned down before may qualify now. If you gave up once, it is worth another look.
The country can never give your person back, and this money does not come close to making that right. It was not right that your loved one died this way. But this is money that is owed to you. Think of it as one last thing you can accept on their behalf.
Veterans and their families are used to offering a hand, not holding one out. So think of it this way: claiming this is not asking for a handout. It is honoring the service. And sharing it is how we take care of our own. If this is not for you, it may be for someone you know. Check for yourself. Check for your aunt. Check for your neighbor.
If it feels overwhelming, you are not crazy, and you do not have to do it alone. Call your town veterans officer. Call your local VFW. Or ask your kids or a family member to help you get started. The links below are a good first step.
I'm not a claims service and can't give medical or legal advice. These official pages are a good start.
If you or someone you love is struggling: Veterans Crisis Line, dial 988 then press 1, or text 838255. VeteransCrisisLine.net
His full story lives at russelljacobson.com
My father, Russell Jacobson, was a 20 year old Navy corpsman in Vietnam. On Hill 861 in 1967, he ran up and down a fire-swept trail pulling Marines to safety until he was nearly killed. Friends of his never made it off that hill.
He came home anyway. Home to a country that didn't want to hear about it, so mostly he didn't talk about it. The war took the rest of his youth and left him a body he had to work around for the rest of his life. He built a family and a life anyway.
Then, decades later, what our own government sprayed across Vietnam caught up with him. In 2015 he died of lymphoma, one of the cancers the VA links to Agent Orange. I've watched it take men like him slowly, painfully, without dignity.
They survived the war. We can't let them go quietly, and we can't let their stories go quietly either.
“Fire-swept trail” comes from page 44 of the history book where I first read what he did. It became the name of this project.