APPLICANT REQUESTS: The son of the former service member (FSM) requests that he be paid his fathers prisoner of war (POW) compensation.
APPLICANT STATES: That the FSM died in 1951 and was never paid the World War II POW compensation he was authorized.
EVIDENCE OF RECORD: The FSMs military records show:
He was inducted on 7 July 1941 and served in the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations. He was captured by the Germans and declared a POW on 17 February 1943. He was released from captivity on 2 May 1945 and honorably discharged 2 months later on 5 July 1945.
He subsequently reenlisted in the Army and served on active duty until his death on 15 October 1951.
Title 50, U.S.Code, App. 2005 provides that members of the armed forces who have been held as POWs are, in addition to the pay and other benefits to which they may be entitled, also entitled to certain additional benefits. Persons who qualify as POWs are entitled to compensation at the rate of $1 per day for each day the government by which they were held violated its obligation to furnish the quantity of food to which they were entitled. They are in addition independently entitled to compensation at the rate of $1.50 per day for labor as a POW or for each day they were subjected to inhumane treatment subject to a limitation of $1.50 for any one day. Persons entitled to such compensation include the actual POWs themselves and, if they are dead, certain named beneficiaries.
Under the War Claims Act Amendments of 1954, (Public Law 744, 83rd Congress), the deadline for filing claims for POW benefits with respect to World War II captivity was 31 August 1955.
DISCUSSION: Considering all the evidence, allegations, and information presented by the applicant, together with the evidence of record, applicable law and regulations, it is concluded:
1. The time for filing a claim for World War II POW benefits expired on 31 August 1955. The application is dated 25 August 1995, well beyond the established deadline for such filings.
2. As a general proposition, these special benefits were intended to leave members of the uniformed service who were POWs and their dependents in the same position they would have been if the member had not been a POW. The FSM, himself, never filed for these benefits during the 6 years between his release from captivity and his death. To pay the benefits to someone else at this late date would not be in keeping with either the spirit or intent of the law.
3. Furthermore, the applicant has provided no evidence that he is the legally entitled beneficiary to whom benefits should be paid.
4. In view of the foregoing, there appears to be no basis for granting the applicants request.
DETERMINATION: The applicant has failed to submit sufficient relevant evidence to demonstrate the existence of probable error or injustice.
BOARD VOTE:
GRANT
GRANT FORMAL HEARING
DENY APPLICATION
Karl F. Schneider
Acting Director
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