or disability considered to have been incurred while on active duty, could have on election from death compensation to dependence and indemnity compensation if it were to their financial advantage to do So. The formula for payment was $112 per month plus 12 percent of active-duty base pay of commensurate rank and length of service of the deceased veteran. The range of payment was $122 per month to $274. Subsequently, under the Military Incentive Pay Act of 1958, these amounts were increased from $125 minimum to $316 per month. You will note there has been no increase in these payments since 1958, although cost-of-living increases and other factors have worked hardships on these survivors whose husbands, fathers, and children made the supreme sacrifice for their country. The majority of these people are solely dependent on this VA award. In the opinion of this organization, a 15-percent increase in these compensations would alleviate such hardships. I might, also, mention here that some survivors, widows with dependent children, and parents erroneously elected dependency and indemnity compensation. Some waived the "free" Korean conflict $10,000 insurance, payable at $90.90 per month for 10 years which was not allowable under Public Law 881 and some dependent parents tied themselves to annual income, thereby sustaining sizable, monthly losses or even preclusion of award. One or more elections from death compensation to dependency and indemnity compensation or vice versa would correct these errors. Many cases of survivors of retired personnel have come to our attention where it is logical to believe that the serviceman's death should be considered service connected. These survivors are unable to substantiate entitlement due to loss of medical records, inadequate notations on active-duty medical records and inability to associate cause of death with physical cause of retirement. This is a most inequitous situation. It can only be corrected by considering certain years of active-duty service, preferably 20 or more, as validation of service connection in case of death of the serviceman for death compensability for the survivors. Public Law 86-211, effective July 1, 1960, granted $60-$45-$25 per month pension survivor entitlement in non-service-connected disability deaths tied to annual $600-$1,200-$1,800 income for widow alone or $75 per month with $3,000 annual income limitation with dependent children. Practically every source of income is counted. Another provision of Public Law 86-211 is the discretionary, net worth corpus estate VA powers which can be most elastic. In summation, these are our legislative recommendations: (1) A 15-percent increase in survivor, service-connected compensation. (2) One or more elections relative to death compensation or dependency and indemnity compensation. (3) Consider the death of a serviceman with 20 or more years of active duty service as service connected. (4) Delete the discretionary, net worth corpus estate VA powers provision of Public Law 86-211. I wish to thank you for your patience in hearing me. Mr. DORN. Any questions, Mr. Fino? Mr. FINO. No. Mr. DORN. Mr. Kornegay? Mr. KORNEGAY. No, sir. The COUNSEL. Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question? The COUNSEL. In your last point you suggest the deletion of the discretionary, net worth corpus of estate provision of Public Law 86-211; does your organization have any information or any examples to submit for the record of abuse of this provision? Admiral TRAIN. I cannot give you definite information, sir, but it makes it that one VA official might consider say $10,000 or $5,000 as not giving a benefit or compensation while another might consider you could get it. I mean it is pretty elastic. The COUNSEL. You do not have any specific cases? Admiral TRAIN. The organization may have but I don't know it. The COUNSEL. If you do have any such cases will you submit them for the record? Admiral TRAIN. Yes. I will, sir. Mr. DORN. I am strongly tempted to ask you about the intelligence situation but that would be out of order so I will let you go with my best wishes and compliments. Admiral TRAIN. I wish you would not ask me. Hon. OLIN E. TEAGUE, Chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Thank you, sir. MILITARY SURVIVORS, INC., DEAR MR. TEAGUE: After his statement before your subcommittee on April 26, 1961, Admiral Train delivered your request to me as to specific cases of the application of the discretionary, corpus estate feature of Public Law 86-211. We have no specific cases, however, at the invitation of the Annapolis Post of the Jewish War Veterans, another widow and I attended one of their meetings on March 28, 1960. The purpose of this meeting was for an explanation of Public Law 86-211 by Veterans' Administration representatives from their Baltimore, Md., office. The corpus estate feature was debated there and, as far as we could determine, there was no yardstick for its application. Hoping that the above will be of assistance, I am, Cordially yours, ERMA D. HUBBARD, (Instructions of central office to all field stations are that where any pension claim is disallowed for reason of the corpus of estate being excessive that disallowance shall be forwarded to central office for review. Instructions also provide that in all cases where the pension claim is allowed and the corpus of the estate exceeds $10,000 this claim, or allowance, shall be forwarded to central office for information and review.) Mr. DORN. The next witness, gentlemen, is Adm. Harold A. Houser, Retired Officers Association. We feel like you Admiral Houser, we are delighted to have you. are an old friend, or rather a young friend. Come on up and have a seat. We are delighted to have you with us. Admiral HOUSER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. DORN. You are not connected with intelligence or anything else? Admiral HOUSER. No, sir; I am not. Mr. DORN. All right. Go ahead. STATEMENT OF ADM. HAROLD A. HOUSER, USN, RETIRED, LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL OF THE RETIRED OFFICERS ASSOCIATION Admiral HOUSER. Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, I am Rear Adm. Harold A. Houser, U.S. Navy, retired, legislative counsel of the Retired Officers Association with headquarters in this city. Our association consists of approximately 48,000 members, representing retired officers of all of the seven uniformed services, including both Regulars and Reserves. The Retired Officers Association appreciates the opportunity to present its views in connection with the committee's consideration of the bill, H.R. 3352, entitled "A bill to amend section 410 of title 38, United States Code, to provide that all retired members of the uniformed services who served not less than 30 years on active duty, or who were retired for disability in excess of 50 percent, shall be considered to have died service-connected deaths.' This bill was introduced in the House of Representatives on January 25, 1961, by the Honorable James B. Utt. The general purpose of the bill is as stated in its title. This is a bill which is of the greatest interest to many service widows and, likewise, to wives of service people who may become widows in the future-as well as to service personnel generally. The bill, if enacted, would amend that portion of title 38, United States Code, which deals with dependency and indemnity compensation, by authorizing the payment of the death benefit, provided by existing law, in any case where a veteran was granted retired pay, retirement pay, or retainer pay, and either served on active duty for not less than 30 years, or was placed on the retired list because of disability at 50 percent or more. It would appear appropriate to invite the attention of the committee to various efforts that have been made in connection with legislation of this character during recent sessions of the Congress. Several bills of a somewhat similar nature were introduced in the 85th Congress differing only as to the length of service required for qualification. These included the bills H.R. 3260 and H.R. 8061. Likewise, in the 86th Congress various bills such as H.R. 674, H.R. 1129, H.R. 2450, H.R. 2571, H.R. 4533, H.R. 5088, and H.R. 5639, were presented with a similar purpose. As this committee is aware, the Servicemens' and Veterans' Survivor Benefits Act (Public Law 881, 84th Cong.), resulted from the long and careful study made by a select committee of which the Honorable Porter Hardy of Virginia was the chairman, and on which the distinguished chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, the Honorable Olin Teague of Texas, was a member. This act established an essential program of survivors benefits, but restricted it to survivors of servicemen who die on active duty or of service-connected causes. In other words, it did not alter the then existing law as to the criteria for determining eligibility for such benefits but did liberalize the payments to be received. The present proposal (H.R. 3352), as previously noted, would extend the criteria for eligibility for benefits under the Survivor Benefits Act to include the survivors of persons who served on active duty for 30 years, or who were retired for disability of 50 percent or more. It is desired to congratulate the committee on scheduling hearings on this bill, the enactment of which would, in our opinion, make a major contribution to the morale of the uniformed services. In view of the character of life in the military services, including the dislocation incident to frequent changes in duty assignments, it is, generally, impossible for a career serviceman to provide a reasonable degree of security for his family. We believe that the Congress is willing to enact a bill along the lines of H.R. 3352, which embraces those dedicated career personnel who either become disabled in service to their country, or who devote the major portion of their productive years to such service. As to the latter category, it would appear only equitable to conclude that death following such a long period of service should, very properly, be considered to have resulted from the rigors of active service. Enactment of legislation such as that embodied in H.R. 3352 would, also, remove a serious defect in the present law. This lies in the fact that, in establishing survivor benefits rights, under existing law, it must be proven that the individual involved died of a service-connected cause. It is not sufficient to prove that he became disabled in active service, but that death must have resulted from the same disability. This frequently involves a delicate medical question not easily susceptible of proper determination, and giving rise to undue hardships in many cases. It is desired to invite the attention of the committee to the fact that bills introduced in previous Congresses have proposed that the survivors benefits be extended to dependents of those having less than 30 years of active duty, namely 20 or 25 years. I might say, in this connection, that our position on this particular point is reflected in the action taken at the association's last national convention, when it adopted a resolution advocating that the period of active service required be set at 20 years, or more. In summary, it is desired to say that the Retired Officers Association is convinced that legislation of this type on behalf of the survivors of long time, loyal members of the uniformed services, deserves favorable consideration by the Congress. Accordingly, the association urges that the committee recommend enactment of the bill, H.R. 3352, modified to conform to the resolution adopted at the last National Convention of the Retired Officers Association. The courtesy of the committee in affording us an opportunity to present our views on this highly important matter is deeply appreciated. Mr. DORN. Admiral, I appreciate you gentlemen coming here. You know some people are prone to wait until legislation is enacted to criticize it so I am grateful for you gentlemen coming here and giving us the viewpoint of these different organizations. Thank you very much. Admiral HOUSER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. DORN. Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce Capt. Franz O. Willenbucher, representing the national counsel of the Commissioned Officers Association, Public Health Service, and the Association of Commissioned Officers, Coast and Geodetic Survey. Captain, we are glad to have you with us. STATEMENT OF FRANK 0. WILLENBUCHER, CAPTAIN, USN, RETIRED, NATIONAL COUNSEL OF THE COMMISSIONED OFFICERS ASSOCIATION, PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, AND THE ASSOCIATION OF COMMISSIONED OFFICERS, COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY Captain WILLENBUCHER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Franz O. Willenbucher, captain, U.S. Navy, retired, national counsel of the Commissioned Officers Association, Public Health Service, and the Association of Commissioned Officers, Coast and Geodetic Survey. The Commissioned Officers Association, Public Health Service, consists of approximately 3,000 members, which number includes more than 75 percent of the career active duty personnel of that service and the Association of Commissioned Officers, Coast and Geodetic Survey, consists of practically all of the career active duty personnel of that service. These organizations are pleased to have the opportunity to appear before the committee to present their views on the bill, H.R. 3352, "To amend section 410 of title 38, United States Code, to provide that all retired members of the uniformed services who served not less than 30 years on active duty, or who were retired for disability in excess of 50 per centum, shall be considered to have died serviceconnected deaths." This bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by the Honorable James B. Utt on January 25, 1961. Bills containing the same proposal have been introduced in both the 85th and 86th Congresses. This proposed legislation would greatly improve the morale of career service personnel in that it would extend survivor benefits to all widows of such personnel with long active service or who have suffered the misfortune of having been retire with disability of 50 percent or more under the standards applicable to the compensation laws administered by the Veterans' Administration. Consequently, this bill is of the greatest interest to the wives and widows of such personnel, as well as to the personnel who would be covered by its provisions. The bill, if enacted, would amend the dependency and indemnity compensation laws contained in title 38 of the United States Code. It would entitle the widows of those who have performed at least 30 years' service in the uniformed services of the United States and the widows of those who have been placed on the retired list because of as disability of 50 percent or more to the same compensation the laws now provide for those who die while in active service or after separation from active service from service-connected causes. The enactment of this legislation would fill a need which now exists to provide some reasonable compensation to the widows of those uniformed service personnel included in the proposal. As matters now |