Growing evidence indicates that during the U.S. occupation of Okinawa from 1945 to 1972, the U.S. violated a treaty to not store herbicides within Japan's political boundaries.

Accusations that the defoliant Agent Orange was present in Japan in the late 60s, is gaining ground as the latest reports point to a massive stockpile apparently disposed on the grounds at Futenma air station in Okinawa after the end of the Vietnam War.

Former Lt. Col. Kris Roberts said he unearthed hundreds of rusty barrels leaking the defoliant in 1981.

However, despite repeated allegations that the U.S. military stored, transported and even buried hundreds of barrels of Agent Orange in Okinawa, the Pentagon continues to deny the accusations.

Ex-U.S. serviceman Larry Carlson says he saw it sprayed as a weed killer at Kadena Air Force Base in Naha and was later granted benefits from the U.S. government due to the resulting illnesses derived from the exposure. Carlson says the toxic defoliant was stored on Okinawa and then loaded onto merchant ships such as the USS Comet and the SS Transglobe, headed to Vietnam. But Carlson remains the only ex-service man in Okinawa to receive health care benefits from the U.S. government.