Official site approval for Utah’s Agent Orange Memorial

A rendering depicts the proposed memorial honoring Vietnam veterans who died or were affected by exposure to Agent Orange. (Courtesy of the Utah Agent Orange Veterans Foundation)

Stories involving Agent Orange and similar toxic herbicides used during the Vietnam War tend to be somewhat somber in nature. And there is a very good reason for such sadness. Those chemicals have caused an enormous amount of harm to humans and the environment.

In this account however, I have chosen to focus on a more positive view of the deadly defoliant Agent Orange. That aspect is the approval of a location for a  prominent monument honoring veterans who have died as a result of their exposure to toxic chemicals used by the U.S. military during the war in Southeast Asia.

From the establishment of the Utah Agent Orange Veterans Foundation (UAOVF) in 2023, Vietnam veteran Larry Kerr, the organization’s founder and chairman, conceived of locating an Agent Orange memorial near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial replica in Layton Commons Park.

The park seemed to Larry and others at the UAOVF to be the most advantageous and appropriate site for an Agent Orange monument. This was due in part to its central location, amenities, and military sights. The city’s Veterans Day Parade route also goes through Layton Commons Park.

UAOVF efforts to obtain site approval for the Agent Orange Memorial included speaking with Layton’s mayor, officials at the Department of Parks and Recreation, and addressing city council members at a meeting in February 2025. Unexpected opposition to UAOVF plans however, was encountered from city officials.

That opposition eventually compelled UAOVF officials to consider other potential sites for the Agent Orange Memorial. At a meeting on Aug. 5, those efforts paid off. City officials from Sunset, a city about 8 miles north of Layton, gave the UAOVF permission to locate the memorial in Sunset City Veterans Memorial Park.

UAOVF officials are especially keen about this arrangement and the cordial reception they received from Sunset Mayor Scott Wiggill and other city officials. UAOVF Board of Directors member Hannah Turk echoed the sentiment of other UAOVF members in her enthusiastic comments about the meeting with Sunset City officials. 

In Hannah’s words, “the amazing leadership of Sunset City, and their city council welcomed us with open arms and full hearts. The support we received was overwhelming — in the very best way.” She went on to state that the meeting was “exactly the kind of reception our Vietnam Veterans have long deserved.”

That meeting like its topic, was nothing short of phenomenal. As Larry Kerr recently mentioned to me “the construction of Agent Orange memorials is a relatively new phenomenon that began in the eastern United States and has gradually been increasing in other places.” This expansion is due to the high number of veterans who have been dying from illnesses caused by their Agent Orange exposure.

Utah’s Agent Orange Memorial is one of the latest monuments in this ongoing trend and is destined to alter the state’s landscape as well as its storied history. This is because of the monument’s large size and its unique distinction of being the first of its kind in the Beehive State.

Groundbreaking for the memorial is expected to take place sometime in the near future and If things go as planned, Utah’s Agent Orange Memorial will be dedicated on Veterans Day 2025. To keep updated on the progress of this historically monumental project, visit the UAOVF’s Facebook page.