Local News
Veterans pursue newfound benefits
Exceptional cold and snow blasted northern Europe during the winter of 1944-45.
That winter, in the Ardennes Forest on the German-Belgium border, more than 1 million Allied and German troops clashed from Dec. 16, 1944, to Jan. 25, 1945. It was Germany’s final offensive of the war and was the bloodiest encounter that U.S. forces experienced in Europe during World War II — the Battle of the Bulge.
Two American GIs at the battle were New Castle’s Lester “John” Jenkins and Carl Kirkwood, both now 89, and both living in Riverside Apartments. The two were members of 200th Field Artillery Battalion, traveling with the 73rd Brigade of the First Army. Both suffered severe cold-weather injuries, including frostbite to their feet.
A little more than a year ago, the two learned — through a member of their old unit — that they have been entitled to compensation through the Veterans Affairs for their hardship. They are now making it their mission to inform other veterans that help is available.
Their friend, now living in Mississippi, heard from a government relief worker following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that his frozen-foot disability was covered under the VA.
“They X-rayed his feet, processed his paperwork and he got benefits right away,” Kirkwood said.
Jenkins’ niece looked up the condition on the Internet. They learned that World War II veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and Korean War veterans of Chosin Reservoir who suffered cold weather injuries, including frostbite, are eligible for compensation that could include a monthly check and free medical care. These benefits have been provided through the Veterans Administration since October 1996.
“We never knew about this,” Jenkins said.
Both went to see local Veterans Affairs director Shirley Noga at the Lawrence County courthouse.
Then things bogged down.
Jenkins, whose severe frostbite left him without some of his toenails, said he submitted his paperwork in June 2006. Last month he received his first monthly check and a lump-sum compensation retroactive to June 2006.
“I wish we had known to ask about this 40 to 50 years ago,” Jenkins said. “This (check) is important to me, since otherwise I get only Social Security to live on.”
Kirkwood, who returned to New Castle in 2000 after living for 45 years in California, Oregon and Arizona, said he submitted benefits claims to the Veterans Administration before Jenkins but has heard nothing.
However, he has more problems than just his feet. Although Kirkwood served from Jan. 13, 1941, to Sept. 6, 1945, there is no record of this.
“I got letters about a fire in St. Louis. Now they have no records of my military time or that I ever served in combat,” he said.
A fire at the National Records Office in the 1970s destroyed service records of solders serving between 1912 and 1959, Noga said.
Kirkwood said his military history is included on his honorable discharge papers. He submitted an affidavit from Jenkins that they served together. Another organization, National Personnel Record Center, also based in St. Louis, was able to reconstruct his military service record, based on the unit where he served.
Kirkwood also sustained a knee injury which he did not submit a claim for until 1999, after he’d had knee replacement surgery. That is not yet settled.
“I told them about it when I was discharged at Indiantown Gap,” Kirkwood said. “They said if I wanted to file a complaint, I would have to wait six to eight weeks. At that time, we’d been gone for three years. We just wanted to go home.”
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