Surgeon General

[Mil T]

Hello.

I have been helping a Korean war veteran with a claim for gunshot wound while in 2nd infantry division. He was wounded in March of 1952. He filed a claim with little help from VA in 1989 and was denied. He never received any correspondence from the VA. The first time he learned anything was from the correspondence of a claim we just submitted.

We submitted a claim recently with new evidence. He just received his initial " WE ARE WORKING ON YOUR CLAIM AND WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU" letter. The claim was filed Sept. 28, 2010. He received this response Sept 23, 2011. I couldn't believe he was just now getting this response. We had resubmitted same claim Sept 6, 2011. we had checked with VARO a couple months ago and they said they did not have a claim for him. I think our Sept 6 resubmit claim caused someone to open his file to see there was actually a claim there.

Anyway, in this new letter from VA, it stated that He had been previously denied on August 3rd, 1989 and because there was no response in the appeal year after the notificaiton that the case was closed.

In that statement they also referenced reason for denial. They made a reference that made me very confused. It said that "your claim was denied because available Surgeon

General Office records are negative as to your sustaining a gunshot wound to the left wrist." He is one of the Veterans that his files were destroyed in the 1973 St. Louis fire at the archives building so there are no records for them to check. Has anyone ever heard that the surgeon general's office keeps records for combat wounds of members of the armed forces? He said that he never had a c&p exam for the original 89 claim that he can remember. He has had c&p for this new claim. He does have a certificate of service that a lot of the vets received that their records were destroyed. We submitted stress letters, letters from his sisters that collaborated his wounds, a picture of him in uniform prior to Korean War assignment, Picture of him in army hospital with left arm bandaged and statement that he had received the CIB and purple heart and Korean Service Medal, but there are no records to show the awards because of the files being destroyed. He never kept any records when he got out of service.

I have a couple of questions.

1. For those that records were destroyed in the fire, doesn' the VA have to give benefit of doubt to the Veteran with the type of evidence we submitted? and if the C&P exam the doctor shows that it was a gunshot wound and the VA has no way to dispute it with records?

2. If he receives an award for claim for his wound, can we ask for retro all the way back to 1989?

Thanks,

Mil T

[jbasser]

There are ways to find out this information.

Unit logs, notes, daily reports, casualty lists and ect.

If he can remember the date and where he was shot, the JSRRC may be able to find his information,

J

[Berta]

"In that statement they also referenced reason for denial. They made a reference that made me very confused. It said that "your claim was denied because available Surgeon

General Office records are negative as to your sustaining a gunshot wound to the left wrist."

Never heard that one before.

He is one of the Veterans that his files were destroyed in the 1973 St. Louis fire at the archives building so there are no records for them to check.

These were mainly USAF records but he needs to file a SF 180 himself- I think the SF 180 criteria at NARA on line changed recently- I have email on that and will post it as soon as I get a chance.And try JSRRC as John said.

"Has anyone ever heard that the surgeon general's office keeps records for combat wounds of members of the armed forces?"

DOD would -dont understand why the SG would.

"He said that he never had a c&p exam for the original 89 claim that he can remember. He has had c&p for this new claim. He does have a certificate of service that a lot of the vets received that their records were destroyed. We submitted stress letters, letters from his sisters that collaborated his wounds, a picture of him in uniform prior to Korean War assignment, Picture of him in army hospital with left arm bandaged and statement that he had received the CIB and purple heart and Korean Service Medal, but there are no records to show the awards because of the files being destroyed. He never kept any records when he got out of service."

I have a couple of questions.

1. "For those that records were destroyed in the fire, doesn' the VA have to give benefit of doubt to the Veteran with the type of evidence we submitted? and if the C&P exam the doctor shows that it was a gunshot wound and the VA has no way to dispute it with records?"

The VA has a heightened Duty to Assist in this situation.

2. "If he receives an award for claim for his wound, can we ask for retro all the way back to 1989?"

If they committed a CUE in the denial- maybe-

He surely left service with his DD 214.

Does that show his PH, CIB, and KSM?

"He filed a claim with little help from VA in 1989 and was denied. He never received any correspondence from the VA. The first time he learned anything was from the corr...."

Can you scan and post that denial here ? (Cover the personal stuff)

[Berta]

"He has had c&p for this new claim" Can you post the results here? (cover personal stuff)

PS a PH indicates GSW which is obviously a stressor. Has he formally claimed PTSD?

Edited September 30, 2011 by Berta

[Mil T]

"He has had c&p for this new claim" Can you post the results here? (cover personal stuff)

PS a PH indicates GSW which is obviously a stressor. Has he formally claimed PTSD?

Yes on the PTSD claim. He doesn't have the results on the C&P on the GSW. We can request them from the hospital but we are 2 hours away from Prescott where the C&P was done.

This brings up another question. I'd like to know how to request Mental Health C&P exams since they are not in the records department of the hospital. Some of the guys requesting them are being told they can't have them. I tell them that they are their records and that they are entitled but it is hard to locate them sometimes. Would they be held in Mental Health area instead of the records department of the hospital?

[Mil T]

"In that statement they also referenced reason for denial. They made a reference that made me very confused. It said that "your claim was denied because available Surgeon

General Office records are negative as to your sustaining a gunshot wound to the left wrist."

Never heard that one before.

He is one of the Veterans that his files were destroyed in the 1973 St. Louis fire at the archives building so there are no records for them to check.

[code]These were mainly USAF records but he needs to file a SF 180 himself- I think the SF 180 criteria at NARA on line changed recently- I have email on that and will post it as soon as I get a chance.And try JSRRC as John said.

From the VA VSO Handbook.

On July 12, 1973, a fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) (13) in St. Louis destroyed approximately

80 percent of the stored records for Army veterans serving between November 1, 1912, and January 1, 1960, and

75 percent of the stored records for Air Force personnel with the surnames Hubbard through Z, who were discharged between September 25, 1947, and January 1, 1964, and were neither retired nor in the Reserves.

Note: Records of Army retirees who were alive on July 12, 1973, escaped the fire because they were stored at the U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Command (AR-PERSCOM) (11).

"Has anyone ever heard that the surgeon general's office keeps records for combat wounds of members of the armed forces?"

DOD would -dont understand why the SG would.

"He said that he never had a c&p exam for the original 89 claim that he can remember. He has had c&p for this new claim. He does have a certificate of service that a lot of the vets received that their records were destroyed. We submitted stress letters, letters from his sisters that collaborated his wounds, a picture of him in uniform prior to Korean War assignment, Picture of him in army hospital with left arm bandaged and statement that he had received the CIB and purple heart and Korean Service Medal, but there are no records to show the awards because of the files being destroyed. He never kept any records when he got out of service."

I have a couple of questions.

1. "For those that records were destroyed in the fire, doesn' the VA have to give benefit of doubt to the Veteran with the type of evidence we submitted? and if the C&P exam the doctor shows that it was a gunshot wound and the VA has no way to dispute it with records?"

The VA has a heightened Duty to Assist in this situation.

2. "If he receives an award for claim for his wound, can we ask for retro all the way back to 1989?"

If they committed a CUE in the denial- maybe-

He surely left service with his DD 214.

Does that show his PH, CIB, and KSM?

"He filed a claim with little help from VA in 1989 and was denied. He never received any correspondence from the VA. The first time he learned anything was from the corr...."

Can you scan and post that denial here ? (Cover the personal stuff)

see highlited red text

Edited September 30, 2011 by Mil T