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WORLD WAR II VETERANS DISCOVER VA BENEFITS --
"We never knew about this. I wish we had known
to ask about this 40 to 50 years ago."
For more on VA benefits, download the Federal
Benefits for Veterans and Dependents handbook 2007 edition...
click here...
Story here...
http://www.ncnewsonline
.com/local/local_story_215224
207.html?start:int=0
Story below:
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Veterans pursue newfound benefits
By Nancy Lowry
Exceptional cold and snow blasted northern Europe during the winter of
1944-45.
That winter, in the Ardennes Forest on the German-Belgium border, more
than 1 million Allied and German troops clashed from Dec. 16, 1944, to
Jan. 25, 1945. It was Germany’s final offensive of the war and was the
bloodiest encounter that U.S. forces experienced in Europe during World
War II — the Battle of the Bulge.
Two American GIs at the battle were New Castle’s Lester “John” Jenkins
and Carl Kirkwood, both now 89, and both living in Riverside Apartments.
The two were members of 200th Field Artillery Battalion, traveling with
the 73rd Brigade of the First Army. Both suffered severe cold-weather
injuries, including frostbite to their feet.
A little more than a year ago, the two learned — through a member of
their old unit — that they have been entitled to compensation through
the Veterans Affairs for their hardship. They are now making it their
mission to inform other veterans that help is available.
Their friend, now living in Mississippi, heard from a government relief
worker following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that his frozen-foot
disability was covered under the VA.
“They X-rayed his feet, processed his paperwork and he got benefits
right away,” Kirkwood said.
Jenkins’ niece looked up the condition on the Internet. They learned
that World War II veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and Korean War
veterans of Chosin Reservoir who suffered cold weather injuries,
including frostbite, are eligible for compensation that could include a
monthly check and free medical care. These benefits have been provided
through the Veterans Administration since October 1996.
“We never knew about this,” Jenkins said.
Both went to see local Veterans Affairs director Shirley Noga at the
Lawrence County courthouse.
Then things bogged down.
Jenkins, whose severe frostbite left him without some of his toenails,
said he submitted his paperwork in June 2006. Last month he received his
first monthly check and a lump-sum compensation retroactive to June
2006.
“I wish we had known to ask about this 40 to 50 years ago,” Jenkins
said. “This (check) is important to me, since otherwise I get only
Social Security to live on.”
Kirkwood, who returned to New Castle in 2000 after living for 45 years
in California, Oregon and Arizona, said he submitted benefits claims to
the Veterans Administration before Jenkins but has heard nothing.
However, he has more problems than just his feet. Although Kirkwood
served from Jan. 13, 1941, to Sept. 6, 1945, there is no record of this.
“I got letters about a fire in St. Louis. Now they have no records of my
military time or that I ever served in combat,” he said.
A fire at the National Records Office in the
1970s destroyed service records of solders serving between 1912 and
1959, Noga said.
Kirkwood said his military history is included on his honorable
discharge papers. He submitted an affidavit from Jenkins that they
served together. Another organization, National Personnel Record Center,
also based in St. Louis, was able to reconstruct his military service
record, based on the unit where he served.
Kirkwood also sustained a knee injury which he did not submit a claim
for until 1999, after he’d had knee replacement surgery. That is not yet
settled.
“I told them about it when I was discharged at Indiantown Gap,” Kirkwood
said. “They said if I wanted to file a complaint, I would have to wait
six to eight weeks. At that time, we’d been gone for three years. We
just wanted to go home.”
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Larry Scott --
