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04-22-2002, 01:27 PM
Many Who Serve Not Legally Vets (http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-whosavet0421.artapr21.story?coll=hc%2Dhea)
April 21, 2002
By OSHRAT CARMIEL, Courant Staff Writer
George Keller enlisted in the Army at 19 and became a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, where he earned a parachutist badge and the tattooed insignia for "America's Guard of Honor."
He served from 1959 to 1962: three years, two months and thirteen days, his discharge papers show.
But decades later, when Keller was living in a car and dying of a debilitating heart disease, he was denied admission to the state Veterans Home and Hospital.
The reason? He was not a veteran.
At least not in the eyes of Connecticut state law, one of the most restrictive in the country in how it rewards military service with practical state benefits.
Under state law, veterans are defined as only those who served in the military during a time of war for at least 90 days. So anyone stationed in Kuwait during Desert Storm or servicing a plane in Italy at the same time would be eligible. But anyone who served during peacetime - no matter how long - is not eligible to receive state benefits, which include admission to the veterans' home in Rocky Hill, tuition reimbursement at state schools, property tax exemptions and burial in state veterans' cemeteries.
Keller's service began after the end of the Korean War and overlapped with the beginning of what the state recognizes as the Vietnam War period. But when he was discharged on March 18, 1962, he had served only 86 of his days in a period of war, four days short of what he needed to get into the veterans home and to be buried with an honor guard in a veterans' cemetery.
"Here's a guy who served for three years," said Peter N. McMullen, a nurse at the Newington VA hospital who worked with Keller. "He's four days shy and the state says he's not a veteran."
Estranged from his family and owning nothing more than a shaving kit and a leather coat, Keller, of East Windsor, died in 1999, living out his final days at the East Hartford Community Shelter. Managers there allowed him to stay for a year, despite the shelter policy that no client can stay for more than three months.
"I wasn't going to let him die on the street. I wasn't going to let that happen," said Kymberly Lessard, the shelter's program manager. "He was dying and he had no place to go."
Keller is an extreme example of what advocates for veterans say is an unfair caste system in Connecticut that rewards service only when it coincides with war, a standard that no veteran can control.
"Everyone who joins the military raises their right hand and they all take the same oath to defend the Constitution," said Jim Tackett, director of the HealthCare for Homeless Veterans program at the West Haven VA Hospital. "Those who serve honorably, fulfill their duty and are discharged honorably - they're veterans."
...
Click here to read more (http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-whosavet0421.artapr21.story?coll=hc%2Dhea)
April 21, 2002
By OSHRAT CARMIEL, Courant Staff Writer
George Keller enlisted in the Army at 19 and became a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, where he earned a parachutist badge and the tattooed insignia for "America's Guard of Honor."
He served from 1959 to 1962: three years, two months and thirteen days, his discharge papers show.
But decades later, when Keller was living in a car and dying of a debilitating heart disease, he was denied admission to the state Veterans Home and Hospital.
The reason? He was not a veteran.
At least not in the eyes of Connecticut state law, one of the most restrictive in the country in how it rewards military service with practical state benefits.
Under state law, veterans are defined as only those who served in the military during a time of war for at least 90 days. So anyone stationed in Kuwait during Desert Storm or servicing a plane in Italy at the same time would be eligible. But anyone who served during peacetime - no matter how long - is not eligible to receive state benefits, which include admission to the veterans' home in Rocky Hill, tuition reimbursement at state schools, property tax exemptions and burial in state veterans' cemeteries.
Keller's service began after the end of the Korean War and overlapped with the beginning of what the state recognizes as the Vietnam War period. But when he was discharged on March 18, 1962, he had served only 86 of his days in a period of war, four days short of what he needed to get into the veterans home and to be buried with an honor guard in a veterans' cemetery.
"Here's a guy who served for three years," said Peter N. McMullen, a nurse at the Newington VA hospital who worked with Keller. "He's four days shy and the state says he's not a veteran."
Estranged from his family and owning nothing more than a shaving kit and a leather coat, Keller, of East Windsor, died in 1999, living out his final days at the East Hartford Community Shelter. Managers there allowed him to stay for a year, despite the shelter policy that no client can stay for more than three months.
"I wasn't going to let him die on the street. I wasn't going to let that happen," said Kymberly Lessard, the shelter's program manager. "He was dying and he had no place to go."
Keller is an extreme example of what advocates for veterans say is an unfair caste system in Connecticut that rewards service only when it coincides with war, a standard that no veteran can control.
"Everyone who joins the military raises their right hand and they all take the same oath to defend the Constitution," said Jim Tackett, director of the HealthCare for Homeless Veterans program at the West Haven VA Hospital. "Those who serve honorably, fulfill their duty and are discharged honorably - they're veterans."
...
Click here to read more (http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-whosavet0421.artapr21.story?coll=hc%2Dhea)