The Stars and Stripes-The National Tribune, Volume 100, Number 38, September 22, 1977 Page: 4 of 16
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4 THE STARS AND STRIPES-THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE Thursday, September 22, 1977
The Stars & Stripes-The National Tribune
I 'AB I II EDlF11877
Published Weekly Ecept Last Issue Of The YearBy
TIlE NATIONAL TRIBUNE CORPORATION
John Lewis Smith, III, President and Managing Editor
M. P1. Stafford, Vice President and Treasurer
Lawrence G. Lynn, Secretary
Richard C. Keagy, General Manager
Kenneth R. Hubbs, Publisher-Editor
Alice Hubbs, Women's Editor
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Office: l ':,feet, Northeast Telephone: [202] 628-4810
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lake check payable to: Stars & Stripes
Mail to: PO Box l80:? Washington, DC 20013
MAIL BLACK & WHITE PHOTOS,
AND'YPEWRITTEN MATERIAL FOR PUBLICATION TO:
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Stars & Stripes, PO Box 1803, Washington, DC 20013
"All rights reserved. No portion of this issue may be reproduced in any form without the
express written permission of The Stars and Stripes - The National Tribune Corporation'AMERICANISM
"Americanism is an unfailing love of country;
loyalty to its institutions and ideals; eagerness to
defend it against all enemies; undivided
allegiance to the Flag; and a desire to secure the
blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity." --
Definition adopted at the joint conference of the
commanders in chief of the five big veterans
organizations in Washington on Feb. 18, 1927.Praises 8-18 Article
Although a little late, I wish to
express my thanks for your article.
in the August 18 issue of The Stars
and Stripes regarding a pension for
veterans of WWI. This is a piece of'
legislation that will have to come,
soon or it will be too late to be of'
much value.
I wish every WWI veteran could
have access to this article. I know
for a fact that many of these
,veterans do not get The Stars and
Stripes simply because they cannot
afford it.
It is very important that we, as
veterans out in the field, know
where our support lies. It is an
awakening to me to find out that we
in Utah have no active support
from our Congressmen or Senators
at this time. We know now wherein
our work lies and what the job is,
ahead of us.
It is my firm belief that over 70%
of the civilian population do not
know that the GI Bill does not and,
never did cover WWI veterans. The
same thing goes for the Korean and
the Vietnam veterans.
In my next bulletin I am going to.
review this article at least briefly
and see that it gets to every
member of the VWWI organization'
in Utah as well as to every WWI
veteran I can find, whether he
belongs to the organization or not.
This article should impress on
every veteran that all in Washing-
ton are not our friends. It should
give added impetus to all veterans'
of WWI that we should get busy and
get support from our own Con-'
gressmen.---J. H. "Jack" Wright,
Utah State Commander, VWWI, 67
East 3rd South, Hyrum, UT 84319.
Strange Values
Thank you for publishing my
letter to President Carter in They
Stars and Stripes on July 21.
I have received a great many;
replies from Members of Congress,
in response to the letter I wrote
regarding the benefits that the
most severely disabled service-i
connected veterans receive. They'
were mostly letters of acknow-+
ledgement of receipt of my letter.
Several Members of Congress told
me how great the benefits I am
receiving are. As of this date, I
have not received a reply from,
President Carter. He is probably'too busy forgiving draft dodgers
and deserters to pay attention to
my letter.
Every Member of Congress re-
ceives a copy of The Stars and
Stripes, but it is apparent to me
that there is no one in Congress
who is willing to correct any of the
inequities that I wrote about. I felt
certain that if the Members of
Congress realized the inadequacy
of the benefits that the most
catastrophically disabled service-
connected veterans receive, there
would be enough Congressmen
willing to take the necessary action
to correct and upgrade these bene-
fits.
As of this date, the only legisla-
tion being considered in regard to
the Aid and Attendance allowance
is the 6.3% increase in compensa-
tion benefits. I would like any
Member of Congress to explain to
me how a veteran who is complete-
ly helpless would be able to hire
enough help to be with him 24 hours
a day, every day, on the meager
allowance that Congress now al-
lows. I realize that a lot of veterans
in my condition have been put into
VA Hospitals or nursing homes
because there is no one willing or
able to take care of them 24 hours a
day, every day, on an allowance of
$17 per day.
Why is it that the government is
willing to spend any amount of.
money to keep a veteran in a VA
Hospital or a nursing home, but the
same government is not willing to-
spend enough money to give a
veteran the right to live at home in
dignity and safety? If it cost the
government $5,000 a day to keep
me alive in a VA Hospital, I know
they would do it.
Too much emphasis has been
placed on the treatment of veter-
ans, but there has not been enough
consideration given to the rehabili-
tation of veterans. After spending
31 months in the VA Hospital in
East Orange, New Jersey, I realize
the lack of effort made to rehabili-
tate veterans such as myself. The
VA Hospitals are an essential part
of veterans' benefits, but too much
emphasis has been placed on keep-
ing veterans in hospitals. There
has not been enough consideration
given to the veterans living at.
home. The government would save.EDITORIAL
Are We Asking Too Much?- - -d.
r-The Stars and Stripes has exposed the awful
VA guinea pig scandal: thousands of our
veterans are operated on by resident sur-
geons-in-training without any supervision by
an experienced full-time VA surgeon. Veter-
ans are being used as guinea pigs for resident
surgeons to practice upon.
VA guinea pig surgery has been denounced
by letters from veterans all over the country;
it has been denounced by the National
Research Council; it is against VA regula-
tions.
Nevertheless, the VA continues to allow
student-surgeons to operate unsupervised
upon our veterans.
Of course, veterans need young and enthus-
iastic residents to care for them, but they
want.them to be supervised.
Resident surgeons-in-training are operating
without supervision because there is anenormous vacancy rate for VA staff surgeons,
and nearly half or more are part-time and are
busy elsewhere.
The VA has done nothing to rectify this
scandalous situation.
1. Are we asking too much when we demand
that there be enough staff surgeons to
supervise the surgery which is performed
upon us?
2. Are we asking too much when we demand
that these surgeons be full-time?
3. Are we asking too much to meet and to
know the name of the staff surgeon who is
responsible for our care?
4. Are we asking too much when we demand
that no resident-in-training operate upon us
unless the responsible staff surgeon is in the
operating room with him?
If we are asking too much for these basic
human rights, then they were asking too much
of us when they sent us off to the wars.Another Name - - -
Reprinted from the Portland, Maine, Press Herald, Wednesday, September 7, 1977It's high time the medical profession and the
news media settled on a different name for the
illness now called Legionnaire's Disease.
It acquired the title because of a major
outbreak of it among American Legion
members attending a Philadelphia conven-
tion. But there have been several instances of
it since in various parts of the country.
Even now officials are coping with several
cases diagnosed in the Columbus, Ohio, area.
Whatever the symptoms of the disease, it
obviously has nothing whatever to do withmoney by instituting a program
that would give veterans living at
home enough help to encourage
them to remain at home.
Another benefit I wrote about
was the special housing grant
given to any veteran who has lost
the use of both legs. As far back as
1948, a grateful Congress enacted
legislation giving a grant of $10,000
toward the purchase of a specially
adapted home. Maybe I am wrong,
but I feel that if the cost of housing
has risen 400% since 1948, the grant
should now be $50,000. I designed a
home with the idea of making it
economical to build. I need extra
large rooms in order to maneuver
my electric wheel chair. I planned
my home to be maintenance free
on the outside because of my
inability to perform any kind of
maintenance. The special housing
agent in the VA Regional Office in
Newark told me that my home was
not elaborate or extravagant.
If I were healthy today, it would
not be necessary for me to build a
home. I would be able to live in any
apartment. However, today, in
order for me to build a home that
would be adequate, I would have to
spend at least $100,000.
How much value does Congress
place on the loss of the use of both
legs, loss of the use of both arms, a
very weak neck, great difficulty in
speaking and all the other afflic-
tions that have ravaged my body?
People may not believe that my
worst disability is my inability to
talk properly. I have not been able
to sleep in my bed for over 3 years,
either. I sleep in a reclining chair
every night. Very few people are
able to understand me when I
speak. Most will not take the time
to understand me.
If there is any Member of Con-
gress or any veteran reading this
letter who has one bit of common
decency and sense in them, they
should step forward and be count-
ed. Except for the grace of God,
anyone reading this letter could be
disabled in the same manner as Iam.---Kenneth
Parkside Ave.,
NY.veterans or, more specifically, members of
The American Legion. And it just as obviously
doesn't choose its victims from the member-
ship of that organization.
The thousands of members of that organiza-
tion can hardly appreciate having their name
associated with an illness that is related to
them only by chance and in a single instance.
We doubt that it would be known as the "labor
disease" if the AFL-CIO had been holding a
convention in that Philadelphia hotel. So how
about a more appropriate term?Beverage, 1501
Apt. 12A, Trenton,Eligible Widows
I have just read Rep. Anderson's
interview on HR 55, and he speaks
of "eligible widows". I have not
heard what is required for a widow
to be "eligible". I need to know. If
you can spare the time and space,
will someone please give us this
information?---Lena Morton, Leg-
islative Chairman, WWWI, Ch. 1,
3810 Sylvania, Houston, TX 77023.
[See Mr. Anderson's new bill, HR
9000 [revised HR 55] on Page 13 of
the September 15 issue. KRH]
Try This On For Size
Just an extra line to thank you for
all you are doing for us old guys.
I can't help getting a bit of color
when I read how the young Con-
gressmen talk about us having a lot
of money.
Fourteen years ago I retired,
thinking my wife and I could take it
easy the rest of our lives. Now we
have to live on Social Security, the
government pension for WWI vets
and a small union pension. All the
other monies are nearly gone, and
so is our home, which we were
taxed out of. Now the rent is over a
third of our income, so tell the
Congress to try that on for size.---
R. J. Schlick, 848E Sacramento,
Altadena, CA 91000.
Hope, Pray And
Keep On Working
Keep up your good work. I want
to thank you for all the effort, time
and space in The Stars and Stripes
fighting hard for our pension. It
wasn't your fault we didn't get the
WWI pension last time around. I
try to keep our Barracks alive by
reporting on anything pertaining to
WWI interest, which covers all
veterans of all wars. Want to thank
your wife, Alice (I believe), who so
graciously answered my letter last
year. Saved her letter, but can't
find it anywhere.
If Congress can or will pass HR
55, I hope they make appropriate
provisions necessary to protectand not hurt the existing pensions
concerning the disabled non-ser-
vice-connected vets, especially
those who lost part or all of their
pensions because of limited in-
come. They should be brought back
to a certain level first.
Let's hope and pray and keep on
working--and keep interested. I'm
not too active now, as I am 87 and, I
believe, the oldest vet belonging to
our County Barracks or in either
the Legion or VFW in our County. I
belong to Kewannee Bks. #3240 in
Kewannee, Wisconsin. May God
bless you and your work in our
behalf.---Alvan W. Arpin, Luxem-
burg, WI.
Benefits Are Not A Charity
My husband died on June 29,1977,
age 82 years and 6 days. He served
in the Navy in WWI and was very
proud of the service he gave his
country, and was proud of his
country, too. He lived only five
months to receive the extra money
that was granted last year for
veterans over 80 years of age. It
was something that touched his
heart--his pension. It meant his
country cared.
Pension is not a charity. It is a
right. Therefore, I know, as all the
other widows know, that these
veterans gave of their lives, time,
health and suffered the same hard-
ships as veterans of other wars and
conflicts.
May we all push and pool our
efforts toward supporting HR 55,
World War I Pension Act.
Another forgotten one is the
WASP, so let us press for S. 247,
WASP Bill. Their ranks fail daily
as do ours.---Therese Adams, 1123
Terrace Drive, Napa, CA 94558.
Enjoys News
I am a veteran of World War I
and I am thanking you for pushing
for a pension for the veterans of
World War I. I enjoy the paper
very much and the news you are,
giving us on legislation.---Joseph C.
Harsch, 1217 W. 95th Place, Chi-
cago, IL 60643.
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Smith, John Lewis, III. The Stars and Stripes-The National Tribune, Volume 100, Number 38, September 22, 1977, newspaper, September 22, 1977; Washington, D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth887558/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National WASP WWII Museum.