This is a very short diary and what I am asking for is how can we help a fellow Vietnam Veteran who has been screwed for 40 years plus by the VA.
I was having lunch at a bar yesterday, and saw a gnarly old guy with a POW-MIA hat on and I sat next to him. I asked if he was a Vietnam veteran because I said he looked old enough to be one. I am also a Vietnam veteran, so it’s OK to be that blunt with someone you never met before. He told me that he was, and that he had spent 23 months in a NV POW camp. I asked if it was the Hanoi Hilton, and he told me that it was near Cam Ranh Bay. I have no way to say if this could be true, but I took him at his word.
He went on to tell me that once he had been captured, the Army changed his status from MIA to KIA (Killed in Action), his wife re-married while he was gone, and that once he was repatriated, he was told that his records were lost. In over 40 years, he has never had his records recovered, and because of that, he has been denied VA benefits, Pension benefits, and other things related to being a veteran. I have no way to determine if any of his story is true, but again, I am taking him at his word for that.
My question for those who may be here who know how to deal with the VA and the Army, and the Records Center in St. Louis, how can we help this man, our Brother, get some justice from the VA and the Army, assuming his story is true and can be verified?
If someone can point me in the right direction, I want to help correct a wrong that has not been addressed for over 40 years for our Brother.
Thanks.