The VA is demanding more proof from a Purple Heart-awarded veteran in his 90s that he actually served in the military, the
World War II survivor told KTVI in an interview last week.
Emil Limpert told the television station that the Veterans Administration in St. Louis told him that his documentation, which includes his military discharge papers, a roster of those injured in the attack that left him hurt in the Philippines, two bronze stars, and the Purple Heart earned in combat were not enough proof.
"I get this letter says we can't accept it because we've got no record of you being in the service," Limpert told KTVI.
Limpert's son, Terry, said he was confused by the VA's correspondence.
"Their answer that they need to find more evidence, that's just ridiculous," he said. "Everything's here that they should be able to at least make some kind of decision and say this is what you can do this is what you can't do."
According to DisabledVeterans.org, the missing records the Veterans Administration was likely referring to were military service documents of millions of veterans destroyed in a Missouri fire in 1973. The VA has asked for hospital records of Limpert's injuries, but the veteran was treated by medics in the field in the Philippines, so there would be no hospital admittance records.
"VA always throws common sense out the window whenever adjudicating claims, and it is a shame we keep hearing stories like Limpert's," the website's Benjamin Krause said.
"Veterans tend to wait until they are in a hard place to seek benefits from the agency. And it seems like VA always responds with as many idiotic excuses as possible to deny those veterans the first or second time around," he continued.
Limpert told KTVI that he had never applied for military benefits until recently, only deciding to do so recently to support him and his wife of 75 years who are both in assisted living.
"We got rid of our car, we got rid of our house," Limpert told the television station. "I got rid of money I had in bonds and stocks and now I need help."
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