Re: Ex-POWs Eligible for More Benefits

Date: June 28, 2004

"Ex-POWs now eligible for more veterans benefits

By AUDREY PARENTE Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- Bruce Hall was a patriotic high school graduate when he volunteered for the Army during World War II.

He sailed into North Africa and fought against the Germans in Salerno, Italy. But on the beach at Anzio, the 18-year-old's life changed forever: He was captured by the enemy and became a prisoner of war.

"There was starvation and cold," Hall said. "I wouldn't salute a German officer, so they put me in solitary with bread and water."

The Germans kept the 165-pound teen in captivity in Italy. When he was released, after 15 months, he had a bad knee and weighed just 92 pounds.

In the years that followed, Hall never received any specialized help. But now, because of legislation signed by President Bush in 2003, former prisoners-of-war like Hall are entitled to increased veterans benefits, which might include support groups, expanded dental care, exemption from doctor visit co-payments and, in some cases, monetary compensation.

Donald Priem, Volusia County Veterans Services Director, said legislation granting the benefits was passed by Congress to help American prisoners-of-war during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Veterans Administration is trying to find ex-POWs and surviving family members from earlier wars to determine if they might also qualify for the new benefits.

Hall of Port Orange, and dozens of other area former prisoners-of-war shared their stories recently during a support group meeting at the local Veteran's Clinic.

Hall said that for years after the war, he never talked about his experience.

"There was shame that you were captured," said Hall, 79, director of the Southeast Region of American Ex-Prisoners of War. "There were comments made over the years -- 'You are one of those guys who had a vacation' -- so there was reluctance to talk about it to anyone."

Hall said participating in the support group has helped him overcome the shame and other repressed feelings from his POW experience.

Leonard Dowling, 78, of DeLand, who served in the Air Force, was captured and taken to an interrogation center in Frankfort, Germany, then shipped off to a prison camp. Although he lost 40 pounds in eight months, he called the prison camp "bearable." And when he got home from the war, he never talked about those months, because "people didn't believe me and just thought I was a blowhard."

Roy Burmeister, 79, of Holly Hill, said he was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and crowded with hundreds of other infantrymen into boxcars with little food or warmth. The conditions were not as humane as those America provided for its prisoners-of-war.

"Germans and Italians who were our prisoners could go to the USO and were treated royally, and everyone thought we had the same," Burmeister said. "People also thought that we were quitters."

An estimated 142,000 Americans were captured during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the first Gulf War and Iraq. The Department of Veterans Affairs reports 35,000 living Americans are former prisoners-of-war. About 11,000 are receiving benefits, Priem said.

Sean Turner, a medical administrative services spokesman for the Veteran's Health System in St. Petersburg, said the level of benefits for each former prisoner-of-war is decided individually.

Some ex-POWs might be due disability compensation, said Margaret Macklin, spokeswoman for the Veterans Benefits Administration in St. Petersburg.

Representatives are available to answer questions at (800) 827-1000, she said.

audrey.parente@news-jrnl.com

Ex-POWS can contact local Veterans Services office at (386) 740-5102 in DeLand, (386) 254-4646 in Daytona Beach, or (386) 775-5205 in Orange City.
 
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