A heroic Army veteran who suffered from terminal colon cancer after he was exposed to toxic burn pits during his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan has died.
Staff Sgt. Wesley Black, who used his last few months to advocate for more studies of the harmful effects of burn pits and urge his fellow veterans to get screened for any symptoms related to burn pit exposure, died on Sunday at the age of 36.
Comedian and activist Jon Stewart, who did a report on the burn pits for his new show, The Problem with Jon Stewart on Apple TV+, and interviewed Black for it, confirmed the news on Twitter on Monday with a video tribute to the fallen veteran.
'Wes dedicated his last days to his wife Laura and son Ronan, family, friends and his Hartford Fire Department brethren,' Stewart wrote, 'and fighting to make sure no other veterans would endure this struggle.'
Army veteran Staff Sgt. Wesley Black died of colon cancer on Sunday at the age of 36
He had spoken to comedian and activist Jon Stewart about the dangers of burn pits and his condition on Stewart's new Apple TV+ show
Stewart announced Black's death on Monday, calling him a hero
Black had served two combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with the Vermont National Guard and received numerous honors for his service - including the Purple Heart.
He medically retired from the Army in 2015 after being thrown out of a black Hummer that had hit a roadside bomb, CNN reports, and had thought his life was going to be easier when he first started experiencing pain and severe digestive issues.
Black told CNN he had complained about the symptoms to doctors at his local Veterans Affairs hospital, but it wasn't until 2017 that he was diagnosed with colon cancer.
When Black first learned that he would die, CNN wrote, Black had just had a new son, joined the fire department and bought a house with a treehouse in a quiet neighborhood in Vermont.
He had to quit the fire department this past spring, as he and his wife, Laura, visited local funeral homes to find his perfect coffin.
An oncologist outside the Veterans Affairs system linked Black's case to the dangers of fire pits, like the one seen here in Afghanistan
The fire pits could be the size of several football fields and were used to burn all sorts of trash
The fumes from the fire pits have since been determined to be toxic
An oncologist outside the VA system who reviewed Black's case later determined the smoldering trash from the massive burn pits on military bases likely caused his cancer.
'Soldiers tend to generate a lot of trash,' he told CNN in June. 'Metals, plastics, electronics, medical waste, your uniform - anything and everything that could be burned was thrown in the trash dump and then coated in diesel fuel and lit on fire.'
The pits could be the size of several football fields, and anyone who was unlucky enough to be standing
