Rejected Claims for WWII Veterans
By anne25penn
@anne25penn (3305)
Philippines
September 4, 2009 12:40am CST
I'm not sure if anyone has already heard or read of this news. The US has denied about 1,000 claims made by Philippine WWII veterans. The reason for the rejected claims is that there was insufficient proof submitted that these people did serve for the US during World War 2.
Excuse me, but you need proof? You have a complete roster of these soldiers, or do you not? My grandfather served as a Captain during World War 2 for USAFFE and he died during the War but my mother and her siblings do not have any benefits. Mind you that these people that they are asking for proof of service during the war already have one foot in the grave because most of them are over seventy years old.
And Arroyo brags that her US trip was successful. Maybe for her and her family and her cronies. But for these people who have been waiting their whole lifetime to be rewarded for a job that they did gallantly, I guess people in the government are dismissing these old people like used dishes. They served their purpose. That's it.
2 people like this
3 responses
@jashoaf (296)
• United States
4 Sep 09
Well, they are a government organization. I come from a long line of vets/servicemen, and the armed forces consistantly telss them all: Don't lose your paperwork. You are responsible for your paperwork. If you ever want benefits in your lifetime, hang on to the paperwork. If you lose it, apply for replacement paperwork immediately as it takes months to get it done. Without it you have nothing. It was pounded in to each of them for the entire 6 months prior to separation.
I know what you're saying, these folks are older than that - the war ended in 1945. any surviving vets would be more than 85 now. But paperwork is still the bottom line, and they go to great lengths to make sure everybody understands that.
Do they have a roster? No. They have records - whole buildings full of them. I worked at a high school and the paperwork was a headache. I can't even imagine tackling looking for the correct "John Doe" from 70 years ago,one of the thousands of servicemen at that time. Can you say migraine????
@eichs1 (1934)
• Philippines
5 Sep 09
I have to go back and forth at Camp Aguinaldo for my brother-in-law's lump sum compensation. Two months after the interview with their representative, the US foreign affairs' office wrote my brother-in-law asking him to send his service record to their office. That's the reason we went to Camp Aguinaldo for those particular paper, which unfortunately is missing. The military records' said they have lots of papers missing because those are war documents and everything were transferred several times. And yes, they are very sorry that lots of US war veterans don't have service records and that's the main paper the US government is looking after before they release a veteran's lump sum compensation.
It is a sad thing that these veterans will not be receiving what is due to them just for the absence of such document. They have other means to verify the names actually - my brother-in-law has a discharge slip and other papers and his monthly pension receipt to prove that he is a veteran. I'm sure others have proofs too. I do hope the US government will take a look into this matter again.
@anne25penn (3305)
• Philippines
6 Sep 09
I do hope also that the US government will look into this matter since a lot of these veterans may not have the required papers that they are looking for. Thank you for your response.
@PinoyBPOJournal (143)
• Philippines
4 Sep 09
I think the US has the right to impose what kind of requirement they need to have the claims processed but in my opinion the Philippine government should fully assist these veterans and not make them got to the office but they should dispatch people to the homes of these veterans instead and assist them in processing these claims. Sad to say I really don't know why these benfits came after sooo long and it is not relevant anymore as most of the veterans are already very old and as I imagine can maybe just tricked by their greedy relatives (this is happening) and just extort the money instead the veteran enjoying it.
