World War II vet, 92, wins PTSD disability benefits

[pinboy3niner]

Veterans Affairs starts sending checks after attorneys work two years to document his service history.



World War II veteran Stanley Friedman and his wife, Minna Rae. Nearly 70 years after he served in North Africa, Veterans Affairs approved benefits for him for post-traumatic stress disorder. (Minna Rae Friedman / June 16, 2012)



By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times
June 17, 2012, 5:00 a.m.

The war gave him flashbacks and nightmares. He flailed around in his sleep, bruising his arms. Memories of being bombed and rocketed seemed real, and painfully intense.

Tech Sgt. Stanley Friedman was ultimately diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, the signature disability from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A few weeks ago, Friedman received his first 70% disability check for PTSD from the Department of Veterans Affairs. It wasn't for service in Iraq or Afghanistan. It was for World War II. Stanley Friedman is 92.

After fighting the VA for years, Friedman got help from lawyers, who logged hundreds of hours digging up evidence not only of his World War II service but of his debilitating PTSD. The VA finally accepted their documentation, and now Friedman is being compensated for what was called shell shock or battle fatigue when he served nearly 70 years ago.

...


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-wwii-vet-ptsd-20120617,0,5155679,full.story

[MADem]

1. He got back compensation, too. Unfortunately, I'm sure some of that went to the lawyers.

Good on him.

I have to wonder if his records were among those that were destroyed in the huge fire at the St. Louis archives some time ago...this has caused a great deal of havoc for many, many servicemembers, USA/Army Air Corps and USAF, regrettably.

http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/fire-1973.html

On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). The records affected:

Branch Personnel and Period Affected Estimated Loss
Army Personnel discharged November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960 80%
Air Force Personnel discharged September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964
(with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.) 75%
No duplicate copies of these records were ever maintained, nor were microfilm copies produced. Neither were any indexes created prior to the fire. In addition, millions of documents had been lent to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire occurred. Therefore, a complete listing of the records that were lost is not available. However, in the years following the fire, the NPRC collected numerous series of records (referred to as Auxiliary Records) that are used to reconstruct basic service information.