Blake Hall
A WWII veteran with a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars is fighting to reclaim his disability benefits from an organization that doesn’t believe he ever saw combat.
Emil Limpert was fighting in the Philippines in 1944 when a grenade fell into the foxhole he shared with four other men. While two of his comrades perished, Limpert survived. Three years later, shrapnel from the blast was found and removed from his leg.
At the time, Limpert did not know he was eligible for any disability or medical benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, so he paid his medical bills on his own. Now in his nineties and running out of money, Limpert is trying to reclaim the benefits he has been entitled to for more than 70 years.
“We got rid of our car, we got rid of our house,” Limpert said. “I got rid of money I had in bonds and stocks and now I need help.”
But after he and his wife contacted the VA, they were told that the agency has no record of Limpert’s military service and thus can’t help him. Apparently, Limpert’s documents were destroyed in a fire that consumed a Missouri military personnel center back in 1973. This means that Limpert isn’t on file, and that any claims he has to disability benefits are null and void.
But Limpert isn’t entirely out in the cold. After all, he has his medals, his discharge papers, his medical records. Surely this is enough, right?
[Limpert’s] application included plenty of documentation, including discharge papers, the names of his foxhole pals and the X-ray of his wounded leg. The proof also included his Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars he received in the Pacific.
Fox 2 reported the VA letter asks Limpert to submit affidavits from fellow service members, most of whom are dead, or the location of the hospital where he was originally treated.
Despite his best efforts, the WWII veteran is unable to commune with the dead to speak with his former comrades or provide the entrance of a medical tent in the middle of the jungle.
Limpert is currently seeking help from his state senators.