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Anthony “Tony” Matola died of lung cancer caused by exposure to Agent Orange
HUBBARD
Vietnam War veteran Anthony “Tony” R. Matola finally received the respect he believed all Vietnam veterans deserve.
Earlier this month, Matola’s name was placed on the In Memory Honor Roll during ceremonies in Washington, D.C.
The In Memory Honor Roll, a program of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, recognizes those who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service.
Matola, of Hubbard, served in the Army in the Pleiku area of central Vietnam in 1968 and 1969 in the 4th Artillery. He died July 8, 2015, less than 13 months after being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer caused by exposure to Agent Orange, a toxic herbicide used in the Vietnam War to defoliate areas of forest.
“My whole life I sensed he felt like his service was not appreciated. I think this would mean a whole lot to him,” his daughter, Katie Costello of Hubbard, said of the In Memory program. “What a neat thing.”
She participated in the In Memory ceremony with her husband, Samuel, and daughter, Anastiya, 10.
“It was wonderful,” she said, adding it also was “very emotional. For some, it wasn’t so fresh. But I had a hard time.”
“My mom couldn’t stand to go. They were married at 16. It is incredibly hard for her,” Costello said.
Loved ones of each of the honorees went to the podium, raised a plaque indicating the Vietnam War veteran’s placement onto the In Memory Honor Roll, and said his name and when and where he served, Costello said, describing the ceremony.
“We weren’t supposed to say anything else, but I couldn’t help it. I said I’m certain Dad’s in a parallel universe driving his 1957 Chevy. He loved that car,” she said.
Costello said her father never talked about Vietnam. If there was something on television about any war, he would break out in a cold sweat.
But, she said, just before he was diagnosed with cancer in June 2014, her father talked to her on a car trip about the war for the first time.
Even then, all he talked about was where he was stationed and some of the friends he had made – never about things that happened during the war, she said.
It seemed as if Matola knew something was wrong.
“He never, ever went to the VA [Department of Veterans Affairs] for medical care. But, one day he said he was going to get tested for Agent Orange,” his daughter said.
He was diagnosed in late June 2014 with stage 4 lung cancer.
“I took him to Cleveland for chemotherapy every week,” Costello said.
After the diagnosis, events moved quickly.
“A lot of Vietnam veterans fought for years to get the Agent Orange diagnosis. But, the first day my father was diagnosed, the VA declared a 100 percent disability from Agent Orange,” she said.
Matola, a lifelong Hubbard resident, died a little over a year later.
Costello grew up in Hubbard and graduated in 1989 from Hubbard High School. She received a two-year degree in veterinary technology from Columbus State Community College and is a technician at Town and Country Veterinary Hospital. Her husband, an Ursuline High School graduate, is a veterinarian there. Katie also operates The Learning Dog at her home in Hubbard.
Costello’s siblings are Tony Mikola Jr. of Conneaut, Pa., and Jason Mikola of Howland. Her father’s brother, Rudy Mikola, lives in Hubbard.
Costello said the In Memory experience was emotional and fulfilling.
But she and another area woman, Heather Bowser of Canfield, whose father, William Morris, also was exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam and died of a heart attack at age 50, are raising money to develop a health and vocational center in Pleiku.
The women hope their efforts provide healing for both their families and the people of Vietnam, who also were exposed to Agent Orange.
He was a fantastic father who would do anything for anybody in need, Costello said of her father.
Sixty-five when he died, Matola was a furnace operator at Commercial Shearing/Parker Hannifin for 31 years before retiring in 2006. He was a founding member and officer of K-9’s for Compassion, a therapy animal group in Hubbard that visits nursing homes and hospitals. He visited the facilities with his dog, Munchkin. Together they enriched the lives of many patients and residents.
“I feel like we lost a piece of him in Vietnam. I feel he would be incredibly happy seeing things done in his honor that he helped create that was negative. I think he would like the idea of helping,” Costello said.
A You Caring page for the project has been established at www.youcaring.com/pleiku-vietnam-for-people-with-effects-of-agent-orange-522145. The goal is to raise $20,000 by April 2017 to create the facility in Pleiku.
Vindicator writer Denise Dick contributed to this story