Citation Nr: 18157760 Decision Date: 12/13/18 Archive Date: 12/13/18 DOCKET NO. 18-19 557 DATE: December 13, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to service connection for coronary artery disease is granted. Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is granted. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. The Veteran was exposed to herbicides during his service at the Udorn, Thailand, Air Force Base. 2. As reflected on his death certificate, the Veteran died from metastatic esophageal cancer with contributing causes of coronary artery disease and hypertension. 3. The Veteran’s coronary artery disease, presumptively service-connected as due to in-service herbicide exposure, caused or contributed substantially or materially to the Veteran’s death. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW 1. Service connection for coronary artery disease is established. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1310, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309, 3.312 (2017). 2. Service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is established. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1310, 5107 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.303, 3.307, 3.309, 3.312 (2017). REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS The Veteran served on active duty from September 1954 to September 1977. The Veteran died in May 2016. The Appellant is the Veteran’s surviving spouse. The Veteran’s death certificate is of record. The Appellant has withdrawn her hearing request. 38 C.F.R. § 20.704 (e) (2017). This matter is before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal of a March 2017 rating decision of the Regional Office (RO) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In accordance with the evidence of record, the Board has recharacterized the claim on appeal to include the service connection claim for coronary artery disease. 1. Entitlement to service connection for coronary artery disease is granted. 2. Entitlement to service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death is granted. Duties to Notify and Assist The Veteran Claims Assistance Act of 2000 (VCAA), in part, describes VA’s duties to notify and assist a claimant in substantiating a claim for VA benefits. 38 U.S.C. §§ 5100, 5102, 5103, 5103A, 5106, 5107, 5126 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.102, 3.156(a), 3.159, 3.326(a) (2017). Given the favorable outcome in this decision that represents a full grant of these issues, further explanation of how VA has fulfilled the duties to notify and assist is not necessary. Legal Criteria for Service Connection Pertinent VA law and regulations provide that service connection may be granted for a disability resulting from disease or injury incurred in or aggravated by service. 38 U.S.C. §§ 1110, 1131 (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (2017). Generally, this requires (1) the existence of a present disability; (2) in-service incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury; and (3) a causal relationship between the present disability and the disease or injury incurred or aggravated during service. Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1167 (Fed. Cir. 2004); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(d). Alternatively, service connection may be established either by showing that a chronic disability or disease was incurred during service and later manifestations of such chronic disability or disease are not due to intercurrent cause(s) or that a disorder or disease was incurred during service and there is evidence of continuity of symptomatology which supports a finding of chronicity since service. 38 C.F.R. § 3.303(b). When a chronic disease becomes manifest to a degree of 10 percent within one year of a veteran’s discharge from service, such disease shall be presumed to have been incurred in service, even though there is no evidence of such disease during the veteran’s period of service. 38 U.S.C. § 1112 (2012); 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309 (2017). VA laws and regulations provide that, if a Veteran was exposed to Agent Orange during service, certain listed diseases are presumptively service-connected if they manifest to a compensable degree at any time after service. 38 U.S.C. § 1116(a)(1); 38 C.F.R. § 3.307(a). Ischemic heart disease is listed among the diseases presumed to be associated with Agent Orange exposure. 38 U.S.C. § 1116(a)(2)(H); 38 C.F.R. § 3.309(e). The Veteran has claimed exposure to herbicides while stationed in Thailand. VA procedures for verifying exposure to herbicides in Thailand during the Vietnam Era are detailed in the VBA Adjudication Manual, M21-1, IV.ii.2.C. VA has determined that there was significant use of herbicides on the fenced-in perimeters of military bases in Thailand intended to eliminate vegetation and ground cover for base security purposes as evidenced in a declassified Vietnam era Department of Defense document titled “Project CHECO Southeast Asia Report: Base Defense in Thailand.” Special consideration of herbicide exposure on a facts-found or direct basis should be extended to those Veterans whose duties placed them on or near the perimeters of Thailand military bases. This allows for presumptive service connection of the diseases associated with herbicide exposure. The majority of troops in Thailand during the Vietnam Era were stationed at the Royal Thai Air Force Bases of U-Tapao, Ubon, Nakhon Phanom, Udorn, Takhli, Korat, and Don Muang. If a veteran served on one of these air bases as a security policeman, security patrol dog handler, member of a security police squadron, or otherwise served near the air base perimeter, as shown by MOS (military occupational specialty), performance evaluations, or other credible evidence, then herbicide exposure should be acknowledged on a facts-found or direct basis. This applies to the Vietnam Era, from February 28, 1961, to May 7, 1975. See M21-1, M21-1, IV.ii.1.H.5.b. Dependency and indemnity compensation may be awarded to a veteran’s surviving spouse, children, or parents for when a service-connected disability caused or contributed substantially or materially to cause the Veteran’s death. 38 U.S.C. § 1310; see also Hanna v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 507, 510 (1994). When there is an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding the merits of an issue material to the determination of the matter, the benefit of the doubt in resolving each such issue shall be given to the claimant. 38 U.S.C. § 5107(b) (2012). Merits of Cause of Death Claim The record indicates that the Veteran served at the Udorn, Thailand Air Force Base, within the Vietnam era. Service treatment records (STRs) reflect treatment at Udorn, Thailand November 1966 and March 1967. Military personnel records reflect the Veteran served in teletype equipment repairmen in the Udorn, Thailand Air Force Base, July 1966 to June 1967. The record reflects a signed statement from the Veteran prior to his death, received February 2016, stating that the Veteran was stationed at Udorn, Thailand Air Force Base from 1965 to 1966. The Veteran indicated he lived in barracks approximately 30 feet from the base perimeter. The Veteran stated that he personally observed personnel spraying Agent Orange on the base perimeter as well as on the vegetation surrounding the barracks where he lived. The record contains other lay statements from servicemembers indicating they personally observed herbicide being sprayed on the vegetation surrounding the barracks near the base perimeter. The Board credits the Veteran’s statements and gives the Veteran, and so the Appellant, the benefit of the doubt in finding that he served near the Udorn, Thailand air base perimeter and was exposed to herbicides during service. As such, the Board finds that the Veteran served near the air base perimeter in Udorn, Thailand during the Vietnam era. Herbicide exposure is conceded on this basis. See M21-1, M21-1, IV.ii.1.H.5.b. The Veteran’s death certificate reflects that the Veteran died of metastatic esophageal cancer with contributing causes of coronary artery disease and hypertension. Based on the finding of in-service exposure to herbicides and diagnosis of coronary artery disease, ischemic heart disease is presumed to have been incurred in service. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.307, 3.309 (2017). Service connection for coronary artery disease has been established. 38 U.S.C. § 5107 (b) (2012); 38 C.F.R. § 3.102 (2017). (Continued on the next page)   As such, under these circumstances, the Board concludes that the coronary artery disease disability of service origin caused or contributed substantially or materially to cause the Veteran’s death, and that the criteria for service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death are met. 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.309(e), 3.312 (2017). The Board gives the Veteran the benefit of the doubt in finding in the Appellant’s favor. Gilbert v. Derwinski, 1 Vet. App. 49 (1990). Thus, the claim is granted. KRISTI L. GUNN Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD K. M. Georgiev