judymb711

Harlan County. Do you watch "Justified"? The Purple Heart is the only medal that cannot be recommended, eligibility (meeting all the criteria) is the only thing that can do it. I have gotten everything from the National Archives. I have gotten everything there is to get. I even have the microfishe from the German records.

Papa, I am from Kentucky. I have had 2 congressmen work on my behalf. No go. I am reapplying, and how I am going about it this time is to take the rule that a prisoner of war injured during capture is eligible without a medical statement...the statement of a cellmate is all that is needed in that instance. Since he was captured immediately after his parachute landed, I think that you could say his injury happened during capture. Injury during a parachute landing is specifically addressed in the rules of eligibility and I have the eyewitness statement . I also remind them that the rules also state "Commanders must also take into consideration the circumstances surrounding the injury." We will see. I don't think I can take another denial. I promised my mother I would get this, and she died in 2009, and I am losing my eyesight and I want to see them pin that medal on his tunic. I am applying to HRC this time, hoping they might use more common sense.

I guess there is no use since they denied us when we applied for service connected. If the widow does not get the benefits, that answers my question, and she was working so I'm sure she never applied for a widow's pension. Why couldn't he just have written and told me that? lol....Carlie, I love your tag line about never giving up. As you know, I'm over on another board talking about trying to obtain the Purple Heart for him for 40 years.

halos2, I have every record there is. I have his medical records before he went overseas,, and I have a psychiatrist report from when he returned because his employer made him go to VA because he was nervous and pacing all the time. Those papers say that he had never been to a physician since he had been repatriated. My eye-witness statement says he suffered a blow to the head and injured his shoulders when his parachute hit a tree. You don't have to have bleed to receive the Purple Heart, and an injury is an injury as long as it is due to the enemy no matter how serious it is. There were no medical personnel in the field full of the enemy...this is the point I try to make clear when I apply. The recipient is supposed to have been treated by medical personnel at the scene. Common sense tells you if you land in a field in enemy territory, and they are waiting there to take you prisoner, the Red Cross isn't going ot have a first aid station set up for you to get examined for your injuries. It's so upsetting...he suffered that injury, he was hit in the back with a shovel by the Home Guard, he was beaten when interrogated, he was made to march from one stalag to another in sub-zero temperatures, and he was almost starved to death, came home with a "nervous condition" for which they deemed him 30% disabled, and then he dies a young man at the age of 49. He really lost his life as it was once he was taken prisoner. I just can't believe they deny him the Purple Heart for all he went through, especially when I can get so close to the hard proof...but cannot produce a medical statement because no Nazi captor happened to give him medical assistance and then make a record of it and send it back with him. Sorry to sound so frustrated but I am, and as I said, this is something I have been working on for 40 years.

My father was declared 30% disabled when he returned from WWII due to "nervous condition". He received a whopping $41.40 check every month until he died in 1970. My mother told me after he died, the checks stopped. She never remarried and died in 2009. Is the surviving spouse not entitled to the benefits? I sent the paper work on this to the VA and a letter asking that question, and I get my letter back with a post-it note attached to it saying "I've tried and started a letter to you multiple times. Would you please call me to discuss?" and it's from the Regional Administrator of the Dept. of Veteran Affairs. I thought it was very unprofessional, and I am terrible about calling people on the telephone...so I am wondering if I might find out from you guys what you think it needs to discuss with me that he couldn't puti in a letter.

should warrant SC for major depression : -)

He died at the age of 49 in 1970. I have been trying to get the medal posthumously for him since then. I knew of injuries during capture and while a POW, but I don't have a witness statement to those. I was told about it when I met his co-pilot several years ago and was not smart enough to have him write it down for me. However, he was injured during the parachute landing and I do have an eye-witness account from his navigator. But they deny the medal because I do not have a statement that he was medically treated. I think common sense would tell anyone that he wasn't treated and if he was, there wouldn't be any record. Now if he was injured while a POW, the rules say I would only need an eye-witness statement. He was immediately captured when he was cut out of a tree. To me, I think this should all be taken under consideration, considering injuries upon bail-out are considered eligible and injuries while a POW are eligible with an eye-witness statement and no medical statement. I feel they are leaving me in the space between the time he was injured when he hit the tree and the time they cut him down, which was minutes.

Oh lordy, yes it should have read WWII and I've been trying to procure the Purple Heart for him for 40 years not 30. I did get the POW medal. I understand the controversy about the Purple Heart and PTSD. I think I can prove PTSD and I keep thinking that I read just recently where they had also added PTSD I will take evandc's word for it because that is the straightest answer I have gotten .But again, they turn me down every time because I can't produce proof that he was examined. The Purple Heart criteria specifically recognizes an injury from bail-out, as which was the case with my father. I have a statement from his navigator who witnessed it. But I'm certain he wasn't examined by a doctor at the scene when the Home Guard picked him up and turned him over to the Nazi's, or by a Nazi doctor at the stalag. I think it ridiculous to keep telling me I have to produce a medical record when there is no possible way there would be one. Here is the thing about the special rules for POWs. If they were abused by their captors, they are eligible and I could probably get by with a witness statement. I do know that he was beaten during initial interrogation, but the witness statement I have is not for that, it is for the bail-out injury. Sorry about the WWI thing. I guess I've been researching too long!

Hi everyone. I am the daughter of a deceased WWI vet. I have been trying for 30 years to obtain the Purple Heart for injuries he sustained as a POW. I have been continually turned down because I cannot produce a doctors statement of injuries. Well, I don't think he was treated by a Nazi doctor. I have produced everything else, including witness statements, but no luck, in fact they told me not to bother to reapply. I thought I remembered reading that they had changed the criteria for awarding the medal to veterans with PTSD just this September, but I cannot find a definitive answer after 3 days of searching. I have a paper that states he was declared 30% disabled due to a "nervous condition" and I have a psychiatrist report that describes him post-war as being nervous, pacing, cannot be in a confined space, cannot ride in a car without driving himself, etc. Can anyone tell me if they did change the criteria to include PTSD for the Purple Heart or not?