Let's remember Pearl Harbor As we go to meet
the foe Let's remember Pearl Harbor As we did
the Alamo We will always remember How they died
for liberty Let's remember Pearl Harbor All across
America and around the world, this is Veterans
Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And now, your
host for today's program, Dale Throneberry. Good
afternoon and welcome to veterans radio My name
is Dale Throneberry and I'm excited to talk to
you today 84 years ago today the Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor So we wanted to talk a little bit
about that on today's program It seemed like
it's fading into the you know into the history
of the world and many people who aren't talking
about it as much as they were So we wanted to
kind of bring it up to you. So we're going to
talk a little bit about that I've got my guests
for the VA benefits program, so if you have any
questions about benefits and what you feel that
you might be entitled to or will tell you what
you're entitled to. And you know, you can give
us a call on the air at 734 -822 -1600. We're
excited. We've got retired Brigadier General,
Air Force Brigadier General. The nurse is Carol
Ann Falzone from Legal Health for Veterans. And
we've got the executive director of the Washtenaw
County Veterans Service Office, David Simms.
And they're standing by as we're getting ready
to go into today's program. Before I can do that,
I've got to make sure that we thank our sponsors
because we can't do the program without them.
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Thank you in advance. We really appreciate all
the support you've given us over going into our
23rd year. That's hard to believe, right? We've
been telling the story of America's veterans
since November 15th, 2003. We got more stories
to go. There's still six million veterans out
there, and we want to make sure we can get as
many of those. That's going to take a long time
to get all those stories, but hopefully we can
get as many of them as we can as possible. So
as I mentioned earlier and you heard in a little
music at the beginning of the program that today
is the 84th anniversary of Pearl Harbor and I
just want to kind of give you a little background
on that. I don't know how many people and I don't
even know they teach how much they teach about
Pearl Harbor and schools anymore but I wanted
to make sure that we didn't want to forget this
because that was a real turning point. in the
you know the history of America and the kind
of our role in the world because prior to that
we were isolationists we just wanted to stay
out of everybody's problems and just you know
concentrate on ourselves but on December 7th
1941 the Pacific fleet which means all of the
navies battleships and so forth were all supposed
to be in Pearl Harbor. Luckily, all the aircraft
carriers had gone out of Pearl Harbor on maneuvers
and weren't there, much to the Japanese surprise
since they weren't able to, you know, bomb them
out of existence either. But on the morning of
December 7, 1941, at approximately 748 Hawaiian
time, the Japanese launched a surprise military
strike against the U .S. Pacific Fleet in Pearl
Harbor. The The attack included 353 aircraft,
fighters, bombers and torpedo planes, which were
launched from six aircraft carriers that were
northwest of Hawaii, unknown to us. Casualties
as a result of this, which is why it's so important,
is 2 ,403 Americans were included, including
military personnel and civilians. They wounded
another 1 ,178. The Japanese managed to sink
or damage eight battleships, three cruisers,
several destroyers, as well as destroyed over
180 aircraft on the ground. They never got off
the ground. The USS Arizona suffered the greatest
loss of life with 1 ,177 crew members killed.
If you get a chance to go to Hawaii, go out to
Pearl Harbor, and you can see the USS Arizona.
They have built a monument over the battleship.
They've never attempted to raise it. And in fact,
there is still oil leaking out of the Arizona,
even to this day, 84 years later. That's kind
of amazing to me. So the attack on Pearl Harbor
really shocked the American public and led to
a swift response from the U .S. government. And
on December 8th, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt
delivered a speech to Congress, famously declaring
December 7th as a date which will live in infamy.
The following day, the United States declared
war on Japan, marking our entry into World War
Two. The significance of the attack on Pearl
Harbor really had implications for the whole
course of World War II. I mean, that's a whole
lecture which we're not going to go into today,
but you think about when did World War II begin?
There are a lot of debates on that, whether it
began with the German invasion of Poland or even
going all the way back to the Japanese invasion
of Manchuria back in the early 1930s. kind of
the Accepted date is September 1st 1939 when
Germany invaded Poland and you know, we we we
stayed out of it we wanted to stay out of it
and We kind of managed to do that. Although Roosevelt
and Winston Churchill got together had a few
conversations and we get we did everything we
could to arm England and help them protect themselves
from the, you know, the London, the bombings
of London and everything along those lines. You
know, and Hitler's moving across Germany, the
Japanese are moving across Southeast Asia and
China and everything. And then they made the
mistake of attacking us on December 7th. Next
thing you know, we find ourselves in the war.
The attack on Pearl Harbor had profound implications
on the course of World War II. It united the
American public in the war effort and led to
the mobilization of the United States military
force. In the days that followed the attack,
Germany and Italy declared war on the United
States, further escalating the conflict. Kind
of in summary of this is that the history of
Pearl Harbor was a pivotal moment in American
history, representing the transition from isolationism
to active involvement in World War II and it
remains a significant event in the collective
memory of the United States. For those of you
that might be driving around you may look at
some of the federal buildings out there and you're
going to see that the flags are at half -staff
and that's the reason for it for Pearl Harbor.
You know the results of Pearl Harbor I think
are really kind of really interesting to me because
You know, we're here in Southeast Michigan. And
as a result of the industrialization that's been
going on here in the Southeast Michigan, we became
kind of the arsenal of what they call the arsenal
of America, because we produced tanks, airplanes
by the hundreds and thousands, not only here,
but across the country. I mean, that's talking
true mobilization. And, you know, most of us
the were kind of afraid that the Japanese were
going to attack the west coast. We were afraid
that the Germans were going to be attacking the
east coast because they had submarines all up
and down the east coast of the United States.
But we reacted and we reacted strongly and we
sent a strong message and it took you know four
years but in April of 1945 Germany surrendered.
And in August of 1945, after the dropping of
two atomic bombs on Japan, they surrendered as
well, although they didn't sign a peace agreement
until September, I think it's September 2nd of
1945. So that brings us up to date. And the reason
that I wanted to talk about Pearl Harbor, in
addition to the importance that it plays in our
history as far as moving from that isolationist
America to becoming so involved in the You know
world affairs and trying to help as many people
as we could and now we're kind of seeing a Edging
back, you know to take care of our own Issues
here at home. But the other thing is is that
as a result of World War two we're going to start
talking now a little bit about the history of
the Veterans administration and it's kind of
dynamic too. So let me bring in our guests We've
got, as I mentioned, Carol Ann Fasone from Legal
Health for Veterans and David Sames from the
Washtenaw County Veterans Service Office. So
Carol Ann, welcome. Thank you, Dale. I really
love that briefing you gave. You know, it's kind
of interesting, but I think members of our family,
I know Dad Fasone, Jim's dad. talked about that
he was a CB and and talked about those that day
and the reason he list literally enlisted in
the United States Navy and why he wanted to serve
his country, even though he wasn't 18 years of
age. Already back then, men and not so many women,
but went out and signed up to serve our country.
Well, that's for sure. I mean, the country responded
so responsibly and You know, so patriotically
and I know my dad was already in his late 30s
when World War II began, but he ended up enlisting
himself at 40 years old and going through basic
training. You know, they're trying, you got to
do some running and goes, I don't run them. I'm
40 years old, but he ended up at Iwo Jima and
Okinawa. So that's pretty good story. David,
welcome back to the program. Thank you. Yeah,
you know this job is afforded meeting a lot of
people and I did Get the opportunity to meet
a World War two Pearl Harbor survivor a couple
years ago And he was in the reserves in California.
He's like, okay. Well, if there's a war I'm in
the reserves well his unit got activated and
he was stationed at Pearl Harbor and They were
building some roads When the zeros were coming
in and so he tells the story about he could see
the planes because they were so low And coming
into Pearl Harbor and and that's how he got kick
-started in the war right so and they called
up a lot of Reserves and National Guard and and
he was part of World War two and he was still
with us I believe he's still with us. I mean
most most of the people there. I mean they're
over a hundred now, so centurions. So just talking
to some of my veterans, you definitely get the
stories firsthand. I think it's so interesting
when you think about our, well, my parents, your
grandparents, you know, served in this war, and
there are limited number of them that are still
around. I think In fact, we did a story back
in 2017 about a survivor of Pearl Harbor and
I went back to listen to it a little bit. He's
103 years old and he had been involved. Let me
look this up again real quick. Navy man Jim Downing
was in Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was 28 years
old at the time. And we talked about a book.
He is at 103. This was a number of years ago.
He was the second oldest American veteran to
have survived that day. I don't think he's still
around. But I'd be surprised. But there's a great
book for our audience to look for. It's called
The Other Side of Infamy. And it's his journey,
it's his story, his journey through Pearl Harbor
and the world at war. That's Jim Downey, D -O
-W -N -I -N -G, at Pearl Harbor in 1941. So there's
a plug for a really great story. That's a good
book, too. I strongly recommend it for anybody
who wants to know what it was like to be at Pearl
Harbor. on December 7th of 1941. So, you know,
we all, as I mentioned before, we all have relatives
that served during World War II, and it really
would be kind of interesting. I was thinking
the other day, I was talking with my wife and
my sister -in -law were visiting. We were started,
you know, we were talking about some of our teachers
that we had had. Now, I was in elementary school
in the 1950s, so I never even thought about it,
never even I don't think anybody ever mentioned
it to me, but we went back and we looked and
we found that probably over half of the male
teachers had all been veterans of World War II.
And boy, if I'd known then what I know now, I
would have questioned them. I would have paid
attention in class and just to hear their stories
because, you know, and that's kind of the issue,
you know, you go. All of us whoever have been
veterans, you know you when you're done with
your service you kind of come home and you do
whatever it is that you're gonna do and As you
get older you start thinking about the importance
of many of the things that you did while you
were in the service And that's one of the reasons
that we keep telling these stories here on veterans
radio We want to get as many of them out as we
possibly can so if you've got one Call it in
I know I'm pointing I'm pointing at you We've
got one. Yeah, call it in we want it. We want
to get them all in the air if we can you know,
Dale You're you what you just said. I'm really
reminiscing because when you said 1950 I wasn't
born yet and I know Dave was David wasn't either
but you know what I I kin that to what happened
with 9 -eleven and when we tell our nieces and
nephews and those individuals who have children,
about 9 -11, they're like, what? And so I think
you just nailed it. When we talk to our veterans
out there to listen to their stories, we need
to take those stories, whatever era it is, forward
to our generations. And they need to know how
these brave men and women fought for our country.
You know, they didn't know what they were going
to get a paycheck. They didn't know how much
they were going to get. But they signed on the
dotted line and they sacrificed wherever they
were at in their lives to lead their families
and to serve our country. And so the stories
are really important. And I know a couple of
years ago, the Library of Congress really tried
to sit down and interview as many of veterans
as possible. And I think that's why I love Veterans
Radio. I love all the podcasts that are done
by you and Jim. And we put them out there for
people to learn about these great men and women.
Yeah, just speaking on that, we had, it's called
the Veterans History Project. And they're still
recording veterans stories. I know they went
to one of our conferences and they they talked
about what they do and they even interviewed
some of the veterans right there in our conference.
I think one of the things I remember is as a
student in high school we had somebody's grandfather
came in and he was at the concentration doc out
and he had his tattooed number on his arm and
that really resonated me and and you know I'm
I'm 16 17 years old and just to hear the story
of the atrocities firsthand that definitely resonated
with me and when I was in the military I got
an opportunity to be in Germany for two and a
half years and I did go see Dachau so Those type
of stories definitely need to be told because
we don't need to forget those I think it's so
important as you mentioned both of you, you know
when we're talking about their stories is that
We're confirming that these events happened and
you know and sometimes in today's world things
get a little bit fuzzy out there and You know
some people deny that some things actually happened.
But when you sit down and you talk with somebody
who was there and you know they're going into
the details of you know what it was like you
know at Dachau or what it was like on 9 -11 or
what it was like in you know Vietnam or Iraq
or Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world.
It's it's so important that we remember these
things and you know now we have a whole new generation
of military personnel out there men and women
that we've got it, you know continue to protect
and continue to tell their stories because you
know They're kind of running under the radar
now and we don't you know, we're not aware since
there's no major conflict going on We don't you
know, we're not exactly sure but there are just
some again. There's some great men and women
that are out there doing their duties, signing,
as Carol Ann pointed out, you know, signing that
blank check and, you know, protecting us as best
that they can all over the world. There's a lot
of things going on that we don't even know about
and I think that that's something that we want
to make sure of. I wanted to talk about, you
know, the history a little bit as a result of
World War II and as a result of many of the conflicts
that we've been in. You know, since 1789, or
1776, depending on the date when we started,
right? I didn't know if either one of you had
had the opportunity to watch Ken Burns, the American
Revolution, or parts of it. If you do, I would
suggest that you check it out. Just because from
a historical standpoint, you know, he goes...
I don't know, not everybody likes Ken Burns,
not everybody likes the way he interprets history,
but in this case he goes into the room, you know,
like Hamilton in the musical, you know, you want
to be in the room where it happens. And he kind
of takes us into those rooms where they're trying
to figure out how in the world, what kind of
government do we want? All we know is that we
don't want to be, we don't want to have a king.
We want to have some sort of representation.
We want to be able to determine. you know what
we do as a country and what we do as individuals
and so what's so intriguing about this latest
the revolution interpretation is that we're in
there when they're arguing you know not only
do we want to have a democracy do we you know
do we what kind of government are we going to
set can you imagine being in those rooms trying
to set up a government of the people, for the
people, and by the people. That's never been
done in the history of mankind. So we're pretty
lucky here when you think about it. I encourage
people to go back and study a little bit of that
history, because I think you'll be amazed. It
wasn't perfect, and it's still not perfect. But
boy, is it better than some of the other things
that are out there. And as many people have said
about the history of the United States, it's
a work in progress. And we keep trying to fix
things that maybe aren't well, like eliminating
slavery. Giving retribution to the American Indian
Native American people who's you know, it wasn't
a very nice way We kind of took their took their
land without asking but you know We're learning
as we go and I think that that's that's that's
what's so cool. I wanted to talk about Where
am I going here? Right. I wanted to get into
the history of the VA and pensions and benefits
and An article that I took off of the VA website.
Surprise, surprise. They have some pretty cool
stuff on that website if you are interested.
Not only do you learn how to file claims, which
you also learn a little bit about the history
of it. So let me take a look at this. It says,
the origins of the Veterans Benefits Administration,
better known as the VBA, date back to the American
Revolution. The Continental Congress passed the
first national pension laws for wounded or injured
soldiers, but left it to the states to distribute
that relief. After 1789, the federal government
assumed responsibility for the pension system,
and in the early 1800s, a small office of three
people in the War Department handled the clerical
work -related claims from a few thousand veterans
that were on the pension rolls. As the number
of beneficiaries increased over the decades,
so did the size of this workforce. By the mid
-1830s, the Bureau of Pensions, as the office
became known as, employed a staff of 18, dispensing
$2 -3 million in payments annually to some 40
,000 veterans, widows and dependent children.
Another congressional act in 1849 transferred
the Pension Bureau to the newly created Department
of the Interior, where it stayed until 1930.
Want to get to the to this part down it down
here It said that the the after the Civil War
the pension bureau received an average of 40
,000 applications a year from Union veterans
an 1890 law expanded eligibility even further
by garen by granting Excuse me by granting pensions
to any Union veteran to infirm to work within
a decade the pension numbers more than tripled
from 300 ,000 to almost a million by 1893. Spending
on pensions soared and routinely consumed more
than 30 percent of the budget. That's pretty
neat. So what happened after World War II? This
is where we are today. So I'm going to ask you
folks to join in now. You know the veterans business
the veterans Benefit Association and a veterans
health care system really took off after World
War two And we've got some dates. I know that
you I asked you folks to talk about this but
1946 the VA Health Administration Began 1953
the VA benefits Came off and in 1973 they finally
set up the veterans cemetery system So what was
going on? What happened? How many people can
you imagine after World War II inundated the
system because they came up with the idea of
the GI Bill? Well, I think it's really interesting
too, Dale, that it took President Reagan it took
President Reagan until 1988 to elevate the Veterans
Administration to a cabinet position. And that
kind of blows my mind. And sometimes I, you know,
I look back and I think we're like stepchildren
because, you know, there's such, well, there's
less, well, maybe a little bit more than 1 %
of our country has served. And yet, We should
be getting the most money, the most benefits,
and it shouldn't take us 25, 30 years to recognize
these benefits. Look what we went through with
Vietnam, with Agent Orange, Dale. Look at the
PAC Act, you know, of... 22, 2022. Why does it
take so long for this country to realize what
our Americans have done to serve our country?
So I'm not surprised. I'm kind of. You know what?
I was in awe that they did develop that department
in 1946 after, you know, the bombing of Pearl
Harbor 1941. And if you think about it, that
might have been perceived as relatively short
period amount of time until they put that in
action. So it's interesting to me, too, how the
three prongs or the three towers were developed.
So health care came first, and then the benefits,
and then the cemeteries. If you think about the
foresight, I guess would be the term I'm looking
for, the foresight of the administrations during
World War II, mostly, you know, mostly Marshall,
General Marshall, and the idea of coming up with
this GI Bill idea. I mean, they've been providing
pensions for wounded veterans and so forth, as
we mentioned before, you know, for many years.
But the idea of this GI Bill coming along because
they knew, you know, how many million veterans
were going to be You know let loose on the world
With they said United States had sixteen point
four million People serve in World War two so
you you talk about third, you know thirty percent
of the budget was before World War two and how
much more did they have to allocate with all
those soldiers coming home and with the GI bill
home loan guarantee and everything that is involved
with the veterans, right? And disabilities and
pensions. And so they should have probably had
to allocate a lot more money. And they had to
do it on a yearly basis. They had to go to Congress
every year and beg for money to cover their expenses.
And they finally kind of fixed that up. actually
fairly recently, when they, you know, guaranteed
the funding for the VA. But I like the idea that,
you know, the thought process behind the GI Bill
is, you know, they knew all of these young men,
especially young men and women, that were coming
out of this service who had barely graduated
high school, then spent the next five years,
four or five years in the military and they knew
that they had to be able to train these men and
women to come back into civilian life because
they'd given up, you know, that time period in
life. You know, who knows what they would have
done if there hadn't been World War II. But with
all the different, you know, all the leaps in
technology during World War II, they had to come
up with a way of of retraining their soldiers.
And I think that's such a great idea. And they
came up with the VA loan program at that time.
And I don't know about anybody out there, but
I'm kind of feeling that there's an awful lot
of veterans out there that wouldn't be in homes
if it hadn't been for the VA loan program, even
today. Oh, yeah, definitely. You talk about the
amounts of money that the VA pours into each
state. One of my metrics that I look at at my
county is how much does the VA pay veterans and
their dependents in Washtenaw County. And this
is just Washtenaw County. We have about 13 ,500
veterans. And my... The money that is paid on
pensions and compensation and education is over
$92 million in 2024. Just in Washtenaw, you bring
up a phenomenal point, David. Just think what
just Michigan brings in then. And when, Dale,
you talk about the GI Bill and how that expanded,
you've got the GI Bill chapter 33. And then you've
got 35 for children. And then you've got the
voc rehab, which is chapter 31, which also gets
massive funding. And so you think about the individuals
who had the vision. And we don't hear a lot about
those names that created this vision. It would
be great to go back and I guess thank them for
their insight to develop these programs for our
veterans. I just think it's amazing when you
think about what they've been able to come up
with. And I was going to ask you, Carol Ann,
or David, if you could tell me why you rattled
off three numbers there as far as what the current
GI bill is. Could you kind of review that for
our audience and me? Sure. And David, please
jump in. So you've got Chapter 33, which is the
GI benefits that most individuals know. And then
there's Chapter 35, which I will explain it this
way and David if you please chime in is for then
the children and other members of your family
that could get your GI bill transferred to them
and then Chapter 35 is a benefit is when you
become a hundred percent permanent total or and
you're being paid at 100 % to the IU, then your
spouse is eligible to go back to school and then
dependents under 26. Okay. Thank you David. And
they'll do a monthly stipend. Yep. That is, you
added the most critical point. Once the veteran
becomes 100%, then their loved ones are entitled
to 35. And then 31, Dale is pretty unique and
I don't know how many people I've just come involved
with a program and they're trying to get approved
for chapter 31. It's when you go into voc rehab
and you're going to develop go back to schooling
for another career. You're going to get some
additional training and there's a whole list
of additional training you could go in for. And
so that has to go through voc rehab, your counselor,
and that's another added benefit for the veteran.
And then with that one that I've just learned,
because the individual was late signing up, they
also get housing allowance and some other benefits
that really assist their family. Yeah, I know.
You have to be service -connected, right? And
you would want, you have to pick a job that is
not interfering with your service -connected
disabilities. That's why they retrained you into
a different, if you were a truck driver and you're
service -connected for your knees, you go back
to school to be a computer programmer. Yeah,
correct. Okay, so you can't do the same thing.
We need to take a quick break here. You are more
than welcome to join in this conversation. We
would love to have you give us a call. The local
number is 734 -822 -1600. We're going to take,
as I mentioned, a break and play our this week's
Medal of Honor segment. So we will be right back
after that. The Medal of Honor is the highest
award for valor in combat given a member of the
Armed Forces of the United States. There have
been over 3 ,400 recipients of the nation's highest
award. This is one of them. Submarine Commander
Richard O 'Kane chose to face the enemy on the
surface despite overwhelming odds. Details after
this. If you have a VA claim denied by the Board
of Veterans' Appeals, contact Legal Help for
Veterans at 1 -800 -693 -4800. They're experts
in handling cases before the U .S. Court of Appeals
for Veterans' claims. Their number again, 1 -800
-693 -4800. Okane served as the commanding officer
of the USS Tang, operating against two enemy
Japanese convoys on the 23rd and 24th of October
1944 during her fifth and last war patrol. Boldly
maneuvering on the surface into the midst of
a heavily escorted convoy, Okane stood in the
hail of bullets and shells from all directions
to launch smashing hits on three tankers, coolly
swung his ship to fire at a freighter, and in
a split second decision, shot out of the path
of an onrushing transport, missing it by inches.
Boxed in by blazing tankers, a freighter, transport
and several destroyers, he blasted two of the
targets with his remaining torpedoes, and with
pyrotechnics bursting on all sides, cleared the
area. 24 hours later, he again made contact with
a heavily escorted convoy, steaming to support
the Lady campaign, with reinforcements and supplies,
and with cratered planes piled high on each unit.
In defiance of the enemy's relentless fire, he
closed on the ships and in quick succession sent
two torpedoes each into the first and second
transports and an adjacent tanker, finding his
mark with each torpedo and a series of violent
explosions at less than 1 ,000 yard range. With
ships bearing down from all sides, he charged
the enemy at high speed, exploding the tanker
in a burst of flame, smashing the transport dead
in the water. and blasting the destroyer with
a mighty roar which rocked the tank from stem
to stern. O 'Kane expended his last two torpedoes
into the remnants of a once powerful convoy before
his own ship went down. The Medal of Honor series
is a production of Veterans Radio. You don't
need special training to help a veteran in your
life. If you know a veteran in crisis, don't
wait. Reach out. Call the Veteran's Crisis Line
at 988 - then press 1. 988 - press 1. A message
from the U .S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
we're back here on veterans radio we're just
kind of talking about history a little bit today
um we've just you know we covered uh pearl harbor
a little bit we talked about the pension programs
beginning back during the revolutionary war actually
and a little tidbit of information i found was
the last payment The payment lasted from the
Civil War up until 2020 when the daughter of
a Union soldier died. So they were paying out
pension plans from the Civil War up until 2020.
That's kind of cool. I think that's amazing.
So we were talking about the idea behind, you
know, what we're trying to do here on our Veterans
Benefits Program all the time is to keep you
informed. Out there of what's going on with the
VA not only you know on the benefit side, but
on the hospital side When we can and there was
an article that I received during the week that
was talking about it came from NPR and it was
talking about some of the Scams that were going
on out there and one of the major scams right
now is that there are accredited veterans counselors,
I guess you could say that are charging you fees
to file your claim and I'll just leave it at
that and let our two experts Talk to you a little
bit about that Yeah, I've seen it in a compensation
and pension and well where you have pension non
-service connected pension claims these um these
veterans and their dependents are already low
income but they need this money in order to um
you know pay for their care and where some of
these pension poachers are coming from they're
like okay you paid me um this much um and will
file your claim and but they're not doing any
care they're just filling out all the paperwork
i've had two that I've already talked to the
non -service connected pension over there in
Wisconsin. And it's just horrible where they
get their retro and then these pension poachers
are like, okay, now you have to pay me half of
that retro and pay me $300 a month. And they're
here, local, right here in Michigan. And we're
trying to shut them down, but then another one
will come back up. And I don't know what you
have seen, Carol. I totally agree with you, David.
And the interesting thing is just the other day,
and I want to bring this up, the VA also put
out, there is a scam alert going out. It's called
the Veterans Postcard Scam. And what is happening
is they're getting this postcard in the mail,
and it says, please call in. We want to update
your benefits. Sure enough, they're getting information.
This is additional, even has the MVAA number
here. And so the attorney general said, you know,
they're wanting people to know about this scam.
Do not give any information out at all. If you
have a VSO, a county counselor, legal help for
veterans or whomever. Call them and let them
know. Do not sign any paperwork. I can't tell
you how many times your information is given
to some of these fraudulent companies. And we
all take it, David. Yeah, I totally agree. And
then some of these companies, what they'll do
is they'll make you sign a contract and then
won't do anything and then they have robo callers
into the VA and to check to see if you ever get
a retro payment so they're calling in on the
VA number because they have their social security
numbers and their data perv and they're finding
out when they get this retro and then sending
them A letter saying, hey, you need to pay me
half of that. And even though they didn't do
anything. No, because you've signed that contract.
And David, it's not a one time. it is we've heard
as many as five months you've taken some of the
money back from these veterans and they'll say
you know they've come to us there's there's nothing
that could be done you you said they've signed
a contract so if somebody calls me and says hey
should we do this no do not do that you know
bring it in if you want You know, we're out there.
If you want to work with a county counselor,
a VSO, make sure the person is legitimate. I
think we're trying to scare off them if we say,
show us your accreditation. Ask them this question.
Do they know what NOVA is? And once that's the
attorney, national attorney organization, when
they start asking, we'll call you back, then,
you know, so we're trying to elicit some of this
or I've made a phone call and they hung up on
me. So that's good. Let's keep it going, but
make sure you're talking to an accredited agency.
Definitely. Absolutely. The article that we're
talking about or we're alluding to here is on
npr .org. and it's called uh let me see where
it is it says this company charges disabled vets
millions even after the VA said it's likely illegal
and i'm going to say the name of the company
out loud and they come and talk to us if they
want to it's called Trajector and it's a it's
a combination it's a combine actually of a number
of different companies where they will solicit
you to sign up and let them handle your claim
although you They don't do a lot of the paperwork
and so forth. They are not an accredited veteran
service organization or attorney. And as David
pointed out, they have you sign a contract. And
the contract has got print that none of us could
read even with magnifying glass. And in essence,
it says that they are entitled to a portion of
any monetary benefit that you receive. And so
many of these veterans are not only getting hit
with a lump sum bill, not only do they do the
robocalls to the VA, once you owe money, they
start calling you every hour. And if you are
one of these people that are in involved and
get you know got caught up in this thing please
contact your VSO contact the VA itself and Let
them know that you know that you're being harassed
by this company But they take a percentage of
your initial benefit and they also want a portion
of your monthly benefit So if you get if you
are entitled to let's suppose that you filed
a claim a year ago And you end up getting you're
entitled to a thousand dollars a month Well,
they're going to want to take, I think, David,
you mentioned like half of that. So you're going
to get that first check for $12 ,000. They want
six of it. And then they want a percentage of
that $1 ,000 a month that you're entitled to
after that. So we've got to make sure that we
prevent this. And I encourage anybody out there
that has been hit by this scam to contact Your
VSO wherever they may be or or you know the county
VSO David or Carol Anne for legal out for veterans
or concrete contract contact your Representative
your congressional representative most of them
have a veteran specialist in there that can sometimes
get around some of the red tape Then the bureaucracy
that's out there, but please please you know
there's help available for you And it's hard.
I'm sure these people have been sued many, many
times. And they're sort of like some other places
we know. And they say, sure, sue me. And you
end up having to spend a lot of money. But be
on the lookout. Please, be wise, be careful,
very careful. Some of these people are really
clever in what they do. and you know a lot of
them come down to let's suppose that I you know
that I went through one of the VSOs around here
and I don't I get less than I think I'm entitled
to that's one of the things that they will jump
on they'll say well you know for that condition
you should have gotten 60 percent not 20 percent
let us take care of this here sign over this
power of attorney to us and then they got you
that was very well described. The other piece
of advice and. And David nailed it. So you mentioned
a name. OK, so they're caught. And so then today
they're ABC. Tomorrow they're DEF. And they bring
it down and they go under another name. And so
I've been telling people, if you're suspect,
get the name of who you talk to, get a phone
number, and that should be reported immediately.
And so. You know, there's things to scare them
off. Like I said, I've tried to talk to one of
those and they hung up on me. And so I put down
the number that I got and I did call in. But
you know what, if somebody is out there and needing
money, you don't know what sometimes people do.
you know um they might get afraid hey you're
going to lose your benefits um the va is you
know um reducing benefits we're not going to
let that happen just sign on the dotted line
i i could see a lot of that happening yeah definitely
use fear and especially with the pensions they'll
say well we can get it done in 90 days well um
that doesn't you know you can't promise the time
frame um as long as you have everything you submitted
in you can get them to go faster if you're in
your 90s late 90s or financial hardship but they
use that fear in order for you to sign on that
dial -it line to have them do the pension where
they basically it's the veteran doing all the
work and then they just fax it into the scan
center. Well, one of the things about this article
that they were talking about of course is that
they would they go out and they Rewrite your
your medical conditions and you know, that's
Yet it temporarily may get you a you know an
increase in your benefit But down the road somebody
is going to find out that that that that was
wrong And the VA is going to come back and say
hey, guess what not only Not only do you owe
those guys money, but you have to pay us back
because you have a, you know, you filed a fraudulent
claim. Yeah. You got to be careful and you got
to own your claim and the credit representatives,
you know, working here in Washtenaw County or
wherever with Carol, right? You want to get a
reputable company to, to help you with these
claims. I mean, sometimes it's easy. But sometimes
it's a lot of a lot of work involved in making
sure, you know, to get all the proper evidence
sent into the VA and replying to the VA. And,
you know, we answer our phone so that I hear
many complaints like, oh, yeah, they filed my
claim, but I can get a hold of them. And you
definitely want to go with somebody accredited.
I think it's just so important. And again, that's
why we're here. folks that are listening today
or folks that were listening to the podcast tomorrow
or in our archives next week or anytime, is that
there are organizations out there that are licensed,
that are official, you know, they're recognized
by the state, they're recognized on a national
level, they're recognized by the VA. And as both
Caroline and David are recognized by the VA as
legal Council I guess would be the term I'm looking
for to you know to help you out and you know,
just It's difficult to be you know to be patient
sometimes but I would strongly encourage you
even if you know somebody You know, we've all
had experiences where we've known somebody that's
a veteran that is you know, that is disabled
But they they haven't filed that claim And we
want to make sure that they get those claims
and get those benefits that they're entitled
to. So that's why we're encouraging you, if you
know somebody who's a veteran and it hasn't done
that, encourage them to file a claim, to talk
to a veteran service organization anywhere and
find out maybe they're actually entitled to something.
As Carol Ann said, if that lady doesn't call
her in the next couple of days, she's going to
be on the phone calling her. Well, and I think
the other thing that I know, David does this,
we do this. If a veteran is in trouble financially,
they're near homelessness, it's a terminal illness
they just got socked with, call us back. Call
your representative back. Let us know because
we could put in paperwork. to expedite your claim
to the VA. So don't let one of these fraudulent
firms come along and act like, as David said,
I'm going to get you an answer in 90 days. Know
that you can't promise anything. But communicate
with us if we could help you. Right. I'm afraid
we're going to have to kind of end it on that
note. It's, you know. That's why we're here.
That's why they're here. That's why all across
the country There are VSOs through all of your
service organizations to help you out And I encourage
you to go forth and find them and get your questions
answered by a legitimate counselor I want to
thank you both for being on the program today.
We talked about Pearl Harbor at the beginning.
We're going to go out on the God Bless America
Today version that everybody from that age group,
the greatest generation will remember, and that's
Kate Smith. So we want to thank everybody for
tuning into our program today. We're going to
have a Christmas special coming up, Bob Hope
again, later on. So until next week, this is
Dale Throneberry for all of us here at Veterans
Radio. You are dismissed. The End