When a World War II vet sends a message by shooting himself in the head outside a VA clinic, it’s a sign that things are going fairly poorly.
From the Greenville (SC) News on April 25:
An 89-year-old World War II veteran bought six bullets from a Greenville pawnshop on Thursday before fatally shooting himself outside a nearby veterans’ clinic, authorities said.
Grover Cleveland Chapman died of a gunshot wound to the head in what’s believed to be a suicide at the Veterans Outpatient Clinic on Augusta Road, said Greenville County Chief Deputy Coroner Mike Ellis.
Employees heard a pop and went outside to find Chapman with a head wound and a handgun between his legs, Ellis said. Chapman, a patient at the clinic, was the only injury reported, said Greenville County Sheriff’s Lt. Shea Smith.
The article doesn’t provide much in the way of details. So if the reporter--Paul Alongi--had just let it go, I wouldn’t be writing about this today. But he didn’t let it go. Alongi followed up and filled in the gaps yesterday:
Harriett Chapman's eyes filled with tears Sunday as she recalled one of the last conversations she had with her 89-year-old father before he fatally shot himself outside a Greenville veterans' clinic last month.
Grover Cleveland Chapman told his family, "No matter what I apply for at the VA, they turn me down," she recalled.
The next day, the World War II veteran took his own life outside the Veterans Outpatient Clinic at 3510 Augusta Road, said Greenville County Deputy Coroner Mike Ellis.
Harriett Chapman sees her father's April 24 death as his way of sending a message about the medical care offered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
While staff at the clinic treated him well, he'd recently lost two battles in a continuous struggle to claim medical benefits, she said.
"He felt like the VA turned its back on him and a lot of other veterans," Harriett Chapman said.
Alongi then goes on to explain what brought on Chapman’s decision:
He learned in a phone call on the Wednesday before his death that he was going to have to travel to Columbia for medical tests, although he'd been hoping for a waiver that would've allowed him to get them done closer to home, Harriett Chapman said.
More bad news came hours later when he received a letter saying he'd been denied "100 percent disability," she said. If he'd been approved, the Veterans Administration would have picked up more of his medical bills, she said.
Grover Cleveland Chapman had the letter with him when he shot himself, Harriett Chapman said.
Could this veteran have been senile and maybe a little unstable? Sure, maybe. He was 89 years old. But given what we know now about how the VA treats disabled veterans of the current wars, I doubt it.
Rather, this is another case of an honorably discharged war veteran slipping through the cracks of a dysfunctional, overwhelmed, and understaffed bureaucracy that seems incapable of righting itself. Somewhere along the way, the VA failed Chapman--as they have so many others.
So I have to wonder: Is this how my generation, how my peers are going to be treated for the next 60 years?
This is a national disgrace.
