Filing An Inital Claim From 1965

[usmcgirl]

this is a question on behalf of my dad that i don't know the answer to...

He got out of the Army in 1965, he never filed a claim through the VA for benefits or did any of the paper work of any kind. is it too late for him to do so? can he even get his service medical/dental records from that far back he wants to know? is it even possible for him to get service connected for injuries he had so long ago to things he has going on present day?

thank you

[Susan]

I recently ordered my deceased father's records just for family and genealogy reasons. I received a letter stating that there were a "few" records. In my case, there was a charge of $60.00 because of the special way needed to handle the records to be copied and mailed to me. Fire damage and mold require special handling. But, in yours and your Dad's case there is a claim to be filed and there should be no cost. The copied pages showed to be charred around the edges. Most information was easily found on each page. My Dad was WWII Army Air Corps discharged in 1946. Some of the copies were of cards that tracked where the duty was. (morning report locator cards.) The cards reminded me of IBM punch cards. I just now looked that up online and there is a history and pic of the card similar to what was in his service records.

Did your father get a copy of his DD214? Those are usually filed upon discharge by the veteran where they live with county records. Good luck to you both.

[usmcgirl]

he was not able to get his actual DD 214 but he was able to get some sort of copy or official "he was in and served such and such dates honorable discharge but it was lost in the fire" special DD 214ish looking thing . he can't remember who he went through in order to get that copy but he said he remembers he had to pay for it. we didn't have to pay for the records yesterday though - which surprised me since usually nothing in this world is free. I searched the county records with him - which was White Sands, New Mexico. We found all kinds of stuff. Records from his first marriage/divorce ect...Amazing what the internet holds. I got him on line with Togetherweserved.com website to find people that served with him to help him out should he need any buddy statements and to see if he can reconnect with some of his old unit buddies.

I recently ordered my deceased father's records just for family and genealogy reasons. I received a letter stating that there were a "few" records. In my case, there was a charge of $60.00 because of the special way needed to handle the records to be copied and mailed to me. Fire damage and mold require special handling. But, in yours and your Dad's case there is a claim to be filed and there should be no cost. The copied pages showed to be charred around the edges. Most information was easily found on each page. My Dad was WWII Army Air Corps discharged in 1946. Some of the copies were of cards that tracked where the duty was. (morning report locator cards.) The cards reminded me of IBM punch cards. I just now looked that up online and there is a history and pic of the card similar to what was in his service records.

Did your father get a copy of his DD214? Those are usually filed upon discharge by the veteran where they live with county records. Good luck to you both.

[carlie]

Please provide more info as to injuries/"things he has going on present day"... is he a Vietnam Vet?

Ditto on the questions above.

[usmcgirl]

Sorry - I missed this post .Dad is Army and was stationed at White Sands. He was an MP. He got 30+ bones in his hand and wrist crushed during a training accident before his unit was due to deploy. You can still see where his pinky was split in half right up the center like a hotdog to this day. He now has arthritis in that wrist/hand. He also has knee problems, back problems, CLPD, heart problems, depression, and sleep issues.

[THOMAS89031]

USMCGIRL...FILE THE CLAIM NOW/TODAY ON THE VA WEBSITE. WORRY ABOUT OBTAINING THE INFORMATION LATER. VA MAY ALREADY HAVE THE DOCUMENTS YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR...

I KNOW THEY HAD SOME OF MY RECORDS THAT ARE SIMILAR TO WHAT YOU ARE ASKING ABOUT. (IT TOOK ME SIX MONTHS TO GET MY RECORDS FROM NATL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER.

JUST FILE THE CLAIM... ANY INFO YOU DON'T HAVE, YOU CAN ASK THE VA TO TRY TO OBTAIN FOR YOU (AS THEY WILL OR/SHOULD DO....

Sorry - I missed this post .Dad is Army and was stationed at White Sands. He was an MP. He got 30+ bones in his hand and wrist crushed during a training accident before his unit was due to deploy. You can still see where his pinky was split in half right up the center like a hotdog to this day. He now has arthritis in that wrist/hand. He also has knee problems, back problems, CLPD, heart problems, depression, and sleep issues.

[usmcgirl]

ok...i sat him and my mom down and 2 hours later we finished the claim. I am no expert at putting these things together so we pieced and patched it together as well as we could with out having his medical records to go on and just his and my mom's memory.

USMCGIRL...FILE THE CLAIM NOW/TODAY ON THE VA WEBSITE. WORRY ABOUT OBTAINING THE INFORMATION LATER. VA MAY ALREADY HAVE THE DOCUMENTS YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR...

I KNOW THEY HAD SOME OF MY RECORDS THAT ARE SIMILAR TO WHAT YOU ARE ASKING ABOUT. (IT TOOK ME SIX MONTHS TO GET MY RECORDS FROM NATL PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER.

JUST FILE THE CLAIM... ANY INFO YOU DON'T HAVE, YOU CAN ASK THE VA TO TRY TO OBTAIN FOR YOU (AS THEY WILL OR/SHOULD DO....