In Pueblo, a skin cancer specialist forges a special bond with Vietnam veterans
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PUEBLO, Colo. — April marked 50 years since the end of the Vietnam war, but the memory of the war is still strong for Danny Markley, a 75-year-old Vietnam veteran.
“For the first 10 years I was home, I never told anyone that I was in Vietnam,” said Markley, who enlisted in the Army after dropping out of college one semester into his education. He served in Vietnam for 11 months and 24 days.
“I didn't put it on a job application because there was just that stigma of, like, I was a leper.”
Not only does the memory of war live on in Markley’s mind, but it manifests in numerous physical health problems that he faces, including skin cancer. Markley first met Dr. Vinh Chung, a skin cancer specialist in Pueblo, for treatment in August of 2022.
Numerous studies found that veterans are at risk for advanced stages and higher skin cancer rates because of risk factors like increased sun exposure and low sunscreen usage. A recent study found that in 2018, it cost the Military Health Services — a healthcare provider for active and retired military and their families — nearly $400,000,000 to treat non-melanoma skin cancer and melanoma.
“And then, of course, there is the agent orange,” said Chung. “Whether or not it causes skin cancers, no one would ever know, but they [veterans] were exposed. So that's part of that's part of the sacrifice that they took on for serving our country.”
Chung, 50, is a Vietnamese refugee whose family fled Vietnam in 1979. His family traveled in a boat of refugees rescued by World Vision, a Christian nonprofit organization that provides global humanitarian aid.
“It was so dark. It was devastating. And at that moment when Saigon fell, my mother was pregnant with me,” said Chung.
Today in Colorado, Chung forges connections with his patients who served in Vietnam. He is quick to strike up a conversation when patients come into his clinic wearing Vietnam veteran hats.
“Fear causes us to simplify, to reduce and to divide us versus them. And what I'm hoping to do in every single day is to take care of patient… to look beyond that and to see the connections in our common humanity,” he said.
Chung said that his family — who is ethnically Chinese, but whose parents and himself were born in Vietnam — was grateful to the American soldiers who were fighting alongside South Vietnamese soldiers. Chung said when he speaks to his Vietnam veteran patients about the war, the conversations are often emotional or tearful.
“For the veterans, when they [are] able to meet me and learn my story, they realize, ‘oh, not all is lost. The war was horrible, but I believe that long term, good will win over evil,’” said Chung.
Markley is now cancer free, but sun exposure wasn’t the only sacrifice he made when he served in Vietnam. The day he was supposed to report to Vietnam, on October 24, 1969, his first daughter was born, and Markley became a father at the age of 19.
“I called everybody but the president of the United States trying to get an extension,” Markley said. It didn’t work.
“So I didn’t go,” he said.
Six days later, Markley flew out with an expired plane ticket and reported for duty, surprised that he wasn’t sent to jail, he said.
Markley was assigned to the 123rd Aviation Battalion, Company A, at Chu Lai. After a few months working in his field, he volunteered to fly as a door gunner on Huey helicopters.
After being out of the Army for 17 years, Markley joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve and was deployed to Desert Storm and Iraq during his 22 years in the Reserve. He earned a Bronze Star and an Air Medal for his service in Vietnam.
“Today, it's a privilege for me as their doctor to be able to take care of them [Vietnam veterans],” said Doctor Chung.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.