Advertisement

  Stock Sponsor
Click here for full stock listings


Last updated: December 1, 2009 8:55 a.m.

Cancer claims Guard commander

Officer served at toxic site in Iraq

Associated Press
Advertisement

WILLIAMS – A former Indiana National Guard commander has died after suffering from lung cancer he believed was caused by exposure to toxic chemicals at a water pumping plant in Iraq.

Retired Lt. Col. James Gentry, 52, was commander of the 1st Battalion, 152nd Infantry, which was assigned to guard a water pumping plant in Basra, Iraq, shortly after the U.S. invasion in 2003. He died Wednesday at his home in the southern Indiana community of Williams, according to a funeral home.

Several soldiers, including one Fort Wayne man, have sued defense contractor KBR Inc., alleging it knowingly allowed them to be exposed to sodium dichromate, a known carcinogen. Gentry was not a party to the suit but believed his cancer was caused by exposure. Houston-based KBR denies any wrongdoing.

Iraqis at the plant, called Qarmat Ali, used sodium dichromate to prevent rusting in pipes that pumped water into oil wells for more consistent oil flow. The orange powder contained hexavalent chromium – the potentially deadly, cancer-causing toxin made famous during the Erin Brockovich saga.

The Department of Veterans Affairs says about 600 National Guard troops from Indiana, Oregon, West Virginia and South Carolina came into contact with sodium dichromate while guarding the plant. Of those exposed, it reports that about 25 percent have filed disability claims for skin and respiratory symptoms.

At a Senate Veterans Committee hearing in October, a VA representative said the agency had "augmented the Gulf War Registry to reflect service at Qarmat Ali" and would soon send another letter to exposed soldiers outlining their medical options.

Fort Wayne resident Keith McMillan, 38, served under Gentry in the National Guard and spent at least three months at Qarmat Ali. He suffers from asthma and chronic nosebleeds, which he believes are linked to his sodium dichromate exposure.

"I feel sorry for (Gentry’s) family and for the loss of his life," McMillan said.

Like his former commander, McMillan has decided not to participate in the lawsuit.

"It was wrong what (KBR) did," he said. "They should at least pay medical expenses. … But we all knew we were going into a hostile environment and anything could happen to us."

Devon Haynie of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.