Help In Receiving Benefits

[ArmySon82]

I'm not even sure if I'm even on the correct website to get the help I need. My father passed away about 2.5 years ago. He spent 20 years in the Army, retired as Master Sgt. My mother has been going thru a nonstop battle trying to receive any benefits entitled to her. To this day, she has not received ONE CENT. Only thing she will be able to receive from what we're told is a percentage of his social security once she turns 60. My father fought in Vietnam, but the problem we're having is that we can't prove my father was actually there b/c it's not on any of his paper work. I don't know too much about that time because my father retired shortly after I was born, so I obviously don't have first hand knowledge of him being there. But I've heard the stories, his tombstone even has "Vietnam Vet" on it. I seriously doubt the stories were false, and if he is buried in our state Vet cemetary, someone had to have known something to just add that to his grave. After a few months of waiting for copies of his papers, it appears some things had been covered up. Appears something was erased and written in. I recall there being 4 duty stations listed, one of which was listed on there twice, but nothing about Vietnam. We have gone thru every possible source here in town, contacted the local VA liaison, written letters to our state gov. and have not been given any help as to what she needs to do. We had someone come in from Ft. Bragg to speak with my mom, he ensured her she was to receive benefits, which is on paper, but have not heard back since he left with no reply in phone calls, nothing. This was 2 years ago. What we are being told is that we need some way of proving he actually was in Vietnam. My father was in some type of secret service while enlisted, so my only assumption is, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that since it was secret, some things are not going to just appear on his papers without going thru some higher up. If anyone has ANY suggestions or can provide any resourse, ANYTHING, it would be so much appreciated. This has gotten to the point where I have had to move back in with my mother just to help her financially and emotionally. She depended on his pay and when he suddenly died, it left her with nothing.

Thank you.

[mitchell3006]

You're in a good forum to help. Not sure I'm the one to talk to. Got to get off for now but I will check later or tomorrow for progress and try to help if no one better jumps in. READ ALL THE ARTICLES you can on the sight. You need Service Medical Records and DD214 from NARA. Need Service Records and any old letters he wrote your Mom. Will check later. Gotte run.

[Chuck75]

You will need to obtain a complete copy of your father's service records, including the pay records and any awards he held. If your father was once in "special forces" or a similar organization, you may be able to contact them for help.

There were some options that had to do with your father's retirement that he may or may not have elected that can have an impact on what benefits your mother may or may not be eligible for. It also may be time to contact your senator and congressman. Perhaps someone else may have more useful advice for you than I have, since I was not in the Army, my knowledge of what to do is limited. Was your father a member of any veterans organization such as the VFW? The VFW and similar veteran's groups have "service officers" that may also be able to help you and your mother.

I'm not even sure if I'm even on the correct website to get the help I need. My father passed away about 2.5 years ago. He spent 20 years in the Army, retired as Master Sgt. My mother has been going thru a nonstop battle trying to receive any benefits entitled to her. To this day, she has not received ONE CENT. Only thing she will be able to receive from what we're told is a percentage of his social security once she turns 60. My father fought in Vietnam, but the problem we're having is that we can't prove my father was actually there b/c it's not on any of his paper work. I don't know too much about that time because my father retired shortly after I was born, so I obviously don't have first hand knowledge of him being there. But I've heard the stories, his tombstone even has "Vietnam Vet" on it. I seriously doubt the stories were false, and if he is buried in our state Vet cemetary, someone had to have known something to just add that to his grave. After a few months of waiting for copies of his papers, it appears some things had been covered up. Appears something was erased and written in. I recall there being 4 duty stations listed, one of which was listed on there twice, but nothing about Vietnam. We have gone thru every possible source here in town, contacted the local VA liaison, written letters to our state gov. and have not been given any help as to what she needs to do. We had someone come in from Ft. Bragg to speak with my mom, he ensured her she was to receive benefits, which is on paper, but have not heard back since he left with no reply in phone calls, nothing. This was 2 years ago. What we are being told is that we need some way of proving he actually was in Vietnam. My father was in some type of secret service while enlisted, so my only assumption is, and please correct me if I'm wrong, that since it was secret, some things are not going to just appear on his papers without going thru some higher up. If anyone has ANY suggestions or can provide any resourse, ANYTHING, it would be so much appreciated. This has gotten to the point where I have had to move back in with my mother just to help her financially and emotionally. She depended on his pay and when he suddenly died, it left her with nothing.

Thank you.

[rentalguy1]

Armyson...welcome to hadit.com. We are all sorry for the loss of your father, and we all are on your side.

First, things do dissappear from our files if we had certain jobs or were assigned to certain units. The government will never admit to it, but it is a fact. There are things not listed in my records that should be there. I learned a long time ago that this is an unwinnable fight. With that said, however, there are ways to prove RVN service. The place to start is with a copy of your dad's DD-214. If he didn't have it stashed around the house somewhere, then check with the local courthouse. Most vets register their DD214's when they get home. If it's not at the courthouse, then you'll have to go through the St. Louis records center (and hope that your dad's wasn't one that was destroyed in the fire in the early 1970's). There are tidbits on the DD-214 that will be very useful. It will give the length of time of any overseas deployments, and usually says where they were at. It will also list all awards that your dad earned, which if he served in RVN, there will be campaign ribbons. That would be proof. Also, you can look at all of his award statements, if he has them stashed somewhere. They will state when, where, and what unit he was in at the time of the award. Also, if he received a medal in RVN service, it will have what actions he did to receive that medal, and where those actions took place listed on the citation.

Those are the first things I would look at. Good luck!

Oh, you also need to search the main web site at hadit. Use key words like "proof of combat service," and derivatives of that term. Also search for "DIC." You may also want to look up and familiarize yourself with 38CFR and 38 USC. I am pretty new to most of this (outside of my own claims that go back to 1994), but I'm sure that others will comment on this case, as there is a wealth of information and good people on this site.

[Philip Rogers]

With reference to the tombstone thing - if it's in a State Veterans Cemetary, the marker should be the one provided by the government, at his death, and would not say "Vietnam Vet" but would have the word "Vietnam" on it, if he served in the military during the Vietnam era. All veterans who served during that period have Vietnam on their markers, whether or not they served in Vietnam. It merely shows what period of war they served in.

pr

[bobbyq]

You will need to obtain a complete copy of your father's service records, including the pay records and any awards he held. If your father was once in "special forces" or a similar organization, you may be able to contact them for help.

There were some options that had to do with your father's retirement that he may or may not have elected that can have an impact on what benefits your mother may or may not be eligible for. It also may be time to contact your senator and congressman. Perhaps someone else may have more useful advice for you than I have, since I was not in the Army, my knowledge of what to do is limited. Was your father a member of any veterans organization such as the VFW? The VFW and similar veteran's groups have "service officers" that may also be able to help you and your mother.

[john999]

You should be able to get his file from St. Louis. I got my father's file. He was a WWII vet and it had his service medals etc.