When she married him, Stacia McDonough remembers, her husband, at 48, was healthy, trim and athletic.John McDonough never ate sweets, never was sick, and had good genes: His mother, Frances, was 77; his father, John Henry, 79.So John and Stacia could not understand how the former Air Force sergeant could develop type 2 diabetes, as he did not long after they were married. Could not, that is, until they determined, and the VA confirmed, that the disease was caused by his exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange during his tour in Vietnam.”When he hit 50, all of a sudden he just looked like he was aging so fast,” Stacia said recently as we talked by phone. “And then I woke up one morning and found him (dead) on the bathroom floor.”That was Nov. 30, 2005. John, who was born and raised in Elmira, and Stacia had been married for just over six years.She e-mailed me a photo from their wedding day, Oct. 16, 1999. “Johnny always said that was the happiest day of his life,” she said.The couple settled in Bedminster, N.J., where Stacia still lives. They decided not to have children, she said, because they were afraid of passing on the effects of Agent Orange.Stacia sent me other photos, too.One, which shows John practicing Tae Kwon Do while he was stationed at Nha Trang Air Base, has been selected to travel on a national tour with the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial’s Traveling Trunks display. It’s available to schools starting in October.Another picture, of John’s Tae Kwon Do class, has been put on display at the memorial’s Education Center in Holmdel, N.J.Stacia said John took lessons in the Korean martial art at night to relieve stress. He earned first- and second-degree black belts within a year.In 2008, John was inducted into the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial’s “In Memory” program, an honor reserved for veterans whose early death resulted from their service in that war.Stacia is obviously proud of his service and the fact that he is being recognized for it.”Although it’s bittersweet, I am happy that Johnny’s finally getting the proper honors and recognition that he was so wrongly denied in his life,” she told me. “I’m so honored because it keeps his memory alive.”