Now we have a decorated WWII veteran, a Purple Heart winner from injuries he suffered while in a Philippines foxhole, the attack on which killed two of his fellow soldiers and wounded a third badly enough to require a leg to be amputated. He was patched up and returned to duty; over the course of his tour, he earned two Bronze Stars.

This man has never asked for any help from the Veterans Administration until now: he and his wife are in their 90s, they’re living in an assisted living facility, they’ve sold most of their possessions to pay for the facility, and they need his VA benefits.

No dice. Despite having

his discharge papers, a roster of those injured in the attack, and the X-ray taken of his leg after he returned home [and that Purple Heart and those Bronze Stars]

The VA is claiming it has no record of his having served. Discharge papers. That x-ray (taken at a VA hospital shortly after his discharge, pursuant to having some remaining shrapnel from that attack removed). No, these official records aren’t good enough for the VA.

The VA wants affidavits from his fellow soldiers, most of whom at this late date are dead; and proof of treatment from the hospital where he was treated in the Philippines, a field medic station that existed, as such facilities do, on a strictly ad hoc basis.

The VA is still refusing him and his wife his benefits.

Veteranos administratio delende est.