WASHINGTON (Sept. 24, 2007) -- Do you know any former prisoners of war (POW) or their family members? If so, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) needs your help.
VA is once again reaching out to former prisoners of war not currently using VA benefits and services, urging them to contact the Department to find out if they are eligible for health care, disability compensation and other services.
"One of VA's highest priorities is meeting the needs of former prisoners of war," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. "They are extraordinary men and women who have endured captivity, suffered extreme deprivation and sacrificed their own freedom to preserve the freedom of all Americans." VA estimates more than 25,000 former prisoners of war are alive today.
VA is trying to contact the remaining POW's not receiving any benefits or health care through an outreach program that includes asking citizens to pass the word to veterans they know. VA also extends a helping hand to the surviving spouses and family members of former POWs, who may be eligible for certain benefits and services.
In recent years, VA has expanded benefits to all former POWs with strokes and certain common heart diseases. More than a dozen other diseases were already covered. The government's effort to inform former POWs about improvements in benefits faces a particular hurdle with older veterans who may not have been in touch with VA for decades.
A majority of former POWs are veterans of World War II, and their military service was before the use of Social Security numbers as military "service numbers." As a result, it is difficult for VA to track down those who have not been in contact with the Department in recent years.
During recent years through a nationwide outreach campaign that included direct mailings and the help of news media and veterans organizations, VA has added hundreds of former POWs to its compensation rolls, people who had not previously been receiving benefits to which they were entitled. If you know a former POW, please ask him or her to contact VA at 1-800-827-1000.
Details about benefits and services available to former POWs and family members are available at http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Benefits/POW/index.htm.
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