HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Hon. OLIN TEAGUE, Chairman, Veterans' Affairs Committee, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR OLIN: I am writing to you regarding the hearings being held by your committee in the matter of veterans' pensions. I have the highest respect for you and your committee's concern for the veterans of our Nation and I know that you will approach the problem objectively, attempting to do what is fair and equitable particularly with regard to our World War I veterans and their widows. Their need is desperate but I have every confidence that where such need exists it will be met by the committee under your guidance. I would like to go on record by stating that I fully realize that many World War I veterans and their widows are in dire straits and in need of help, but am hopeful that your committee will find a solution to their plight at the earliest possible moment. I want to particularly emphasize the situation existing for those in the low income bracket and my belief that veterans and their widows who are now hopelessly subsisting on less than $100 a month at an age which holds virtually no possibility for employment need aid to obtain the bare requirements which we as a grateful Nation certainly would not deny them. With kind regards, I am, Sincerely, GEORGE F. SENNER, Jr. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Hon. OLIN TEAGUE, Chairman, House Veterans' Affairs Committee, DEAR CHAIRMAN TEAGUE: I am very pleased that your committee is conducting hearings on the 153 veterans' pension bills pending before it. For some time, I have been hearing from most of the World War I veterans in my congressional district. Judging from their correspondence and in visiting with them, I believe that any action you could take to eliminate the complaints and inequities that have become manifest to these veterans since the enactment of Public Law 211 of the 86th Congress would be helpful and appreciated. While there is a need to consider all the proposals before your committee and a need to improve present veterans laws, I am hopeful that you will give particular attention to the veterans of World War I. The veterans of all previous wars have received special attention by the Congress and have benefited from the special legislation in their interest. I think it would be wise if any legislation reported included the following points: (1) increase certain income limits and pension rates for veterans and widows; (2) raise the limitation on income in computing the veteran's income; (3) exclude as income any profit realized from the sale of certain real property; (4) increase pension payments for those seriously disabled veterans who require the aid and attendance of another person, and (5) eliminate the disability requirement for entitlement to pension at age 65. A bill incorporating these features will help the low income and the seriously disabled pensioners. The legislation which the World War I veterans are especially interested in is embodied in H.R. 2332. However, the greatest concern which they have shown is over the fact that your committee has not taken executive action in voting this bill up or down. I believe I am aware of their views in stating that some action ought to be taken. Even if your committee does not see fit to report their bill exactly as written, the special problems of veterans over 65 who are in need of higher pensions should be given consideration this year. As a result, a modified bill could at least be reported to improve certain provisions of present law so that both House and Senate may work its will on whether or not a suitable pension increase for World War I veterans may be passed during the present session of the Congress. Sincerely yours, ALBERT H. QUIE, Hon. OLIN E. TEAGUE, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS, Washington, D.C., June 2, 1964. Chairman, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, DEAR MR. TEAGUE: A number of veteran leaders in my congressional district have expressed great interest in pension legislation presently being considered by the Subcommittee on Compensation and Pension of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. They have expressed particular support of legislation that will liberalize pension benefits for veterans of World War I and their widows. Because I value the opinion of these citizens, I should like the subcommittee to have the benefit of their thinking. I am, therefore, enclosing a representative number of communications on this subject and request that they be included in the printed hearings of the subcommittee. Sincerely yours, ROBERT F. ELLSWORTH. WYANDOTTE COUNTY, Hon. ROBERT F. ELLSWORTH, VETERANS OF WORLD WAR I OF THE U.S.A., INC., Member of Congress, House Office Building, DEAR CONGRESSMAN ELLSWORTH: I received your airmail letter last week and was very much impressed with its contents. In fact, I took the liberty of reading it to our membership at our last barracks meeting. The response was I might say, unanimously favorable. It is the general feeling of the membership that you will have us uppermost in mind and will endeavor to vote and act as best you can in our interest. Three other members also had a letter from you containing approximately the same message. I, for one, realize the vast number of veterans bills and requests for legislation that come before Congress. Each sponsor and his representative followers has the assumption that this is unmistakably the answer. There are, as you well know, two species of pensions. One is, classified as "gratuity" and the other "contributory." The veterans' pension as I see it, comes under the gratuity class. Now, what I am endeavoring to transmit to you is this fact: Service records during the First World War, were very, very poorly kept. I know of a case for example, where a soldier during a shelling, got entangled in barbed wire, received first aid, including an antitetanus shot in the abdomen. This aid station was located in the subbasement of a church in Pannes, France, in the St. Mihiel sector. No entry on service record. This was in September 1918. Again this soldier on about the 15th of November, 1918, received treatment for a swollen left ankle while en route from France to Germany as a member of the army of occupation. This swollen ankle was caused primarily to an injury received quite some time before entry into service. Again no entry. On or about February 10, 1919, this same soldier received frozen feet while engaged in a FWD open truck hauling men and supplies and was sent to the hosipital in Bitburg, Germany, and after spending 3 days in an influenza ward due to a mistake by a hospital orderly, was finally treated for frozen feet by the process of applications of hot paraffin plus medicine painted on with a brush and then the feet bound in layers of cotton and gauze. time I understand the service entry reads influenza. This The above-mentioned soldier happens to be me. I am not crying about it but merely bringing this incident to your attention in hopes it would enable you to realize that after all, all of the ex-soldiers who might become recipients of a gratuity pension might, if the records had been properly kept, be drawing compensation. With best personal regards I remain, Sincerely, ALBERT D. SUTTON, Adjutant. KANSAS CITY, KANS., May 23, 1964. DEAR CONGRESSMAN ELLSWORTH: Thank you very much for your letter of May 19 inviting me to submit a statement for inclusion in the hearings on H.R. 2332. Since it is impossible for me to appear in person I will ask that you do this for me. There are now some 30,000 veterans of World War I in Kansas 70 years old and better. I am 72 years old. Most of us have no other income but social security and VA pension. I would say at least 75 percent or more are in this bracket. I note that my home paper, Hiawatha Daily World, of Brown County, Kans., states that there has been 29 veterans from that area buried since last Memorial Day and nearly three-fourths of that number are veterans of World War I. I lived in this community for 45 years and have worked in the American Legion as a past commander and in the Hiawatha Barracks as past commander. I have been service officer in both organizations. In 1944 I had to leave the farm because of failing health. My farm sale amounted to $10 000, with it I bought a house in Hiawatha, and went to work for a seed corn company as sales supervisor for $300 a month and traveling expenses away from home. The $10,000 soon was worth only 45 cents on the dollar on what it would buy. Living expenses continued to climb. When I reached age 65 my company replaced me with a younger man who was not crippled and disabled by age and hard work. Today at 72 I am totally disabled and have to have aid and assistance to bathe and dress myself. My only income is from social security and VA non-service-connected pension. I have personal knowledge of dozens of veterans in the same situation. Our small income is too much to qualify for medical care under Kerr-Mills Act. Now after 45 years since service in World War I, if we are to receive any increase in pension to help us, it must be soon or it will be too late. If I changed over to Public Law 86-211 I would get less money than at present. Thank you for your effort in behalf of the veteran. Very sincerely, A. L. BELLINGER. KANSAS CITY, KANS., May 26, 1964. Hon. ROBERT F. ELLSWORTH, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR SIR: In answer to your letter of May 21, 1964, I want to let you know I am interested in the World War I veterans and widow pension legislation as I am a World War I widow of 12 years and had to take my social security pension 4 years ago as the work was getting too hard for me and as living costs are growing and so many things needed to be done. I would appreciate very much if you would take the H.R. 2332 and others before Congress and it may be passed so we older people can take care of ourselves. Thanking you very much. Congressman R. F. ELLSWORTH, House Office Building, Washington, D.C. Mrs. LYDA EGER. OVERLAND PARK, KANS., May 23, 1964. DEAR SIR: Thank you for your letter of the 19th relative pending veterans legislation, particularly H.R. 2332 and other pension legislation, and offering me the opportunity to make a statement for inclusion in the hearings. In my particular case I was arbitrarily retired under the Railroad Retirement Act at age 65. Since the Railroad Retirement Act had only been in effect for 25 years I was forced to go back to a period when wages were lower and pick up 5 years to complete the required 30, which lowered my pension. My wife being 8 years younger received nothing and will not until age 62. The company I worked for had no pension plan until 5 years previous to my retirement and this amounted to very little. Fortunately I had been working prior to the time high income tax rates were installed and we had been able to save some money for our old age. My retirement is such that we are now being forced to dip into our savings in order to pay taxes and meet the increased cost of living, both of which are constantly rising everytime we get a tax bill or go to the grocery. Considering what the Government has done for Spanish-American War veterans, Korean veterans together with those of World War II, I feel it is no more than simple justice that Congress pass H.R. 2332 and provide for World War I veterans. While the cost of this bill may be high to start, considering the mortality rate among this age group, 10 years should see the end of most of them and the ending of the program. This country has poured billions down every rathole in the world in the guise of foreign aid which has contributed to if not caused the tremendous increase in taxes and the cost of living. Charity begins at home and instead of pouring it down foreign ratholes I feel it should be paid to our own people and would be spent in this country to help build the economy. Again thanking you for your letter and comments, I am, Yours truly, Mr. ROBERT F. ELLSWORTH, Member of Congress, Washington, D.C. F. A. MELLUISH. MISSION, KAns., May 25, 1964. DEAR MR. ELLSWORTH: I was very pleased to hear that the Veterans' Affairs Committee is starting to hold hearings on bills relating to pensions for World War I veterans. I wish to make the following statement concerning pensions for World War I veterans: All World War I veterans are now at or just past retirement age which means that they are having to live on social security benefits plus whatever they have been able to accumulate during the past 46 years. At the end of World War I, there were no educational assistance programs and no housing assistance programs to help these men obtain an education or to start accumulating an equity in a home. For several years, right in the prime period of these men's lives, the country was in the depression which further handicapped them in developing financial security for their retirement years. It seems to me that the veterans of World War I deserve some assistance to ease their problem of securing a livelihood in the lean years that they face after involuntary retirement which so many of them are faced with. I sincerely request that the committee give every consideration within fiscal responsibility to repay some of the debt that we owe to these men who risked so much for the rest of us in World War I. Sincerely yours, CHAS. H. KENT. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Hon. OLIN E. TEAGUE, Committee on Veterans' Affairs, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I am hopeful that your committee will find it possible to take favorable action on H.R. 11351, a copy of which is enclosed herewith, which I have introduced and which has been referred to your committee. This bill would merely serve to extend to those men who served in the U.S. Armed Forces, for 90 days or more, in the Mexican border conflict the same wartime benefits accorded World War I veterans, as defined in section 101, title 38, of the United States Code. I sincerely hope that the necessary departmental reports will be obtained and early hearings scheduled on this bill. Very truly yours, Hon. OLIN E. TEAGUE, Chairman, Veterans' Affairs Committee, JOHN B. ANDERSON, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: I take this means to express my support for H.R. 2332, the so-called World War I pension bill, which is now the subject of hearings by your committee. I do this at the instance and request of many fine oldtimers who are my friends and fellow Alaskans and who bore arms for our country in World War I. In many cases those who would be the beneficiaries of this legislation sorely need the benefits which would be derived from it. Thanking you, I am, RALPH J. RIVERS, Mr. KORNEGAY. We have a telegram from Gilman H. Stordock, chairman of the National Legislative Committee of Mexican Border Veterans, a statement on behalf of the National Association of Letter Carriers, and a statement filed by the National Association of Retired Civil Employees. These will be included in the record at this point. (Documents follow:) Hon. OLIN E. TEAGUE, Chairman, House Veterans' Affairs Committee, WAUPACA, Wis., May 19, 1964. Earnest plea request your support of bills scheduled for hearings starting tomorrow, May 19, before House Veterans' Affairs Committee, that will give status of war veterans to veterans of Mexican border service, starting in June 1916, as result of President's calling organized militia and National Guard into Federal service as a result of invasion of United States ground by Mexican soldiers and to protect American lives and property. These men left their homes and families and businesses and professions and occupations without having an opportunity of making proper arrangements for their care or continuation, thereby suffering great financial losses in scores of cases. Their country came first and now many of these veterans need the same type of help and care that veterans of World War I are receiving. That is all we ask for these forgotten men of Uncle Sam's last volunteer Army and as such have earned the right to benefits as war (repeat war) veterans' benefits to which they are rightfully entitled and as the result of whose service World War I was more easily won by trained citizen soldiers. Enjoyed your recent talk before NEC of the American Legion— of which I am also a member-at Indianapolis recently and admire you for your frankness and honesty. Best wishes to you and Oliver Meadows and rest of your most efficient, capable, and honest staff. GILMAN H. STORDOCK, Chairman, National Legislative Committee, Mexican Border Veterans. ENDORSEMENT OF H.R. 2332 BY NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, the National Association of Letter Carriers represents about 15,000 retired persons who have continued their membership since their days of active employment in the Government service. Of this number more than half are veterans of either World War I or World War II. Perhaps less than half of our members are actually veterans of the First World War but these are the people who today are in the greatest need of assistance. While it is the veterans of World War I who would benefit to a greater extent under the pending legislation, we feel that it is these people who are most worthy of adjustment in pensions and liberalization of the pension laws. We have heard from a number of our members who lost benefits under the liberalized provisions of the civil service retirement law because of such new laws providing for greater pensions than those which are allowable under existing veterans' benefit acts. We do feel that the limitations should be increased to include the provisions of H.R. 2332. The rising costs of living which affect retired persons, in some instances to a greater extent than those who have not reached retirement age, calls attention to the financial plight of the retiree. The costs of medicine and medical attention have soared over the past several years; and retired persons who depended upon their veterans' pension for relief from the rising costs are now in a financial straightjacket-having lost the benefits of the Veterans' Pension Act, in some instances because of their slight increases in annuity. |