 | Frank Bergquist graduated from Eddyville, IA, high school in 1958. After graduation, he entered the Army, serving 20 years in Missouri, Maryland, New Mexico, Germany, Iowa, Turkey, Kansas, S.E. Asia, and finally retiring in 1978 in Louisiana. Before retiring, Frank was assigned as an ROTC instructor at WSU and Kemper Military School until 1974. In 1978 he served as the Non-Commissioned officer in charge of operations at Fort Polk, LA. He has served as the Veterans Counselor (DVOP) with the Kansas Job Service Center National Service Office, with the Disabled American Veterans at the VA Regional Office in Wichita; Veterans Employment and Training Coordinator with the US Dept. of Labor at Ft. Riley, KS; Service Coordinator with Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation; Dept Adjutant-Treasurer and the Dept. Executive Director Dept. of Kansas Disabled American Veterans; and past President of the Wichita Civil War Round Table. Currently he is doing graduate work as an instructor in Genealogy and Military History at Wichita State and Kansas State Universities, and is the CEO for the Disabled American Veterans Thrift Stores in Wichita, KS. Bergquist has an AA from Kemper Military School and College from Boonville, MO. and a BGS from Wichita State University. He can be reached by telephone at 316-262-6501. He is located at 926 N. Mosley Wichita 67214. |
Veteran Affairs
2007-09-01 09:59:00
Veterans and benefits
Is the only benefit that most veterans get when they’re buried is a government issued headstone?
Answer: Benefits for veterans is an area that needs much ‘addressing’. The veterans of the War of 1812 weren’t provided with a pension until the Civil War was being fought nearly 50 years later. Even President Roosevelt cut the veteran’s pensions when the depression hit.
Veterans, everybody loves them, but I believe that our laws must reflect our gratitude to the men and women who so valiantly served our nation in battle. But to many veterans, it seems like they are remembered in Washington only on Veterans Day. Speeches are all well and good, but when health care is needed or the necessary funds for the veteran and their family to live on, that’s a different story.
Today it’s clear to many veterans that the administration and Congress think of them on other days of the year besides Veterans Day. They’re thinking of veterans as they work to cut off VA healthcare. They’re thinking of veterans when they refuse to address lingering health problems from the first Gulf War. They’re thinking of veterans when they block full retirement and disability benefits for retired members of the armed services. Retired members who don’t complete twenty years of military service due to service connected disabilities are left even further behind. And they’re thinking of veterans when they decide not to attend a soldier’s funeral or pay a visit to those who are recovering from injuries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center just a few miles from the seats of power in Washington. We all like to see our senators and representatives attend a veteran’s funeral in Kansas, but is it just a public relations opportunity for them?
Since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, 6,239 troops had been wounded in action, according to a recent Pentagon count. Of those, 57% were so severely injured that they were unable to return to duty. Medically retired from active duty military service, they need immediate assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system.
Despite Abraham Lincoln’s admonition for the country “to care for him who shall have borne the battle,” hundreds of thousands of vets nationwide potentially are missing out on benefits from the Veterans Administration - and the agency’s efforts to find them have fallen far short. For those whose VA claims have been denied it’s even worse. They become discouraged and give up on getting the needed VA medical benefits for them and for their family.
Unfortunately, the only benefit that most veterans get is a government headstone when they are buried. And that’s not guaranteed when the bean counters take over after the end of a war.
Here is some brief history about the Veterans Administration:
1930....The Veterans Administration created by Executive Order 5398, signed by President Herbert Hoover on July 21. At that time, there were 54 hospitals, 4.7 million living veterans and 31,600 employees.
1933…The Board of Veterans Appeals established.
1944....On June 22, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the “Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944” (Public Law 346, passed unanimously by the 78th Congress), more commonly known as “The GI Bill of Rights,” offering home loan and education benefits to veterans.
1946....The Department of Medicine & Surgery established, succeeded in 1989 by the Veterans Health Services and Research Administration, renamed the Veterans Health Administration in 1991.
1953....The Department of Veterans Benefits established, succeeded in 1989 by the Veterans Benefits Administration.
1973....The National Cemetery System – renamed the National Cemetery Administration in 1998 – created when Congress transferred 82 national cemeteries from the Army to VA. The Army kept Arlington National Cemetery and the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
1988....Legislation to elevate VA to Cabinet status signed by President Reagan.
1989....On March 15, VA became the 14th Department in the President’s Cabinet.
