Military guys i need some help.

[rjewkes]

It has to do with My Late Uncle.

any idea why paper work in St. Louis,mo would have anything to do with a soldier from California, who died in Oregon where he lived for the last 20 years, His Ceremony will be friday but the paper work 3,000 miles away may keep him un burrried for a week at minimum.

this is unnacceptable i'd be unhappy if they did this to any other soldier not just my uncle. Could a transposed number on either end realy keep him unburried for a week or more?


He gave a couple of knees when he was stationed in Alabama at the end of Vietnam.

[SoCalExile]

I believe the military probably has his paperwork stored there. Are they telling you they need to validate his service before paying for his burial?

Do you have any paperwork that shows he served?

You can acquire his DD214 here: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/milita ... e-records/ Which is his record of service, but that will likely take longer than a week.

[basketcase0302]

I might have some insight on this. My step-father is a Korean War veteran who can't get any type of help from the VA for anything. We go to sit down for a Veterans Day meal and he's denied due to not having a DD-214, (yet can show pictures of him overseas in the Army uniform carrying a gun)! Why...
He was told by the VA that there was a fire, (I believe the St. Louis records department) that destroyed his DD-214-as well as millions before everything went electronic.
Praying it gets fixed promptly. No veteran's family should go through this kind of anguish!
Maybe google for more results?
There are also companies that file for a DD-214 on a speedier basis, that charge a fee to do so.

[ford4x4fun]

Contact the local American Legion or VFW. Those guys should have someone that deals with this kind of thing. Doesn't matter if he was a member of the club or not. Sorry this reply came so late, I am in a training exercise so I don't get to a computer all that often. But those guys will help you out in a second. Sorry to hear about your uncle.

[rjewkes]

Thanks guys i'll pass this on to my relatives. you'd think ther woulda been an extra copy of all DD 214 at the pentagon or some place of all the things to have in Triplicate bet all three copies ended up in St. Louis.

[SmoothJ69]

there was a fire in 1973 that destroyed a lot of records, specifically Army and Air Force. You can read about it here: http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/milita ... -1973.html

You can still do a request through the government to get a copy of a dd 214, they can usually reconstruct a basic service file from things like medical records; you get a physical when you get in and when you get out so start\end dates are relatively easy. Specific awards or whatnot you might be screwed unless it was an MoH.

None of this is not going to help your uncle however because its the government and they take their sweet a$$ time about everything so it would take too long, but you can usually get something that proves active duty service given enough time. http://www.archives.gov/veterans/milita ... e-records/

[PhantomoftheBumpside]

The archives are in St. Louis (near the middle of the country)

From the Gov Archives site...

"Emergency" Requests and Deadlines

If your request is urgent (e.g. upcoming surgery, funeral, etc.) and there is a deadline associated with your request, please provide this information in the "Comments" section of eVetrecs or in the "Purpose" section of the SF-180 and fax it to our Customer Service Team at (314) 801-0764. Our goal is to complete all urgent requests within two working days. However, in some instances we can complete requests the same day if necessary. Please contact our customer service staff at (314) 801-0800 if you have questions or require same day service.

^^^ You can click on the blue links above for the page and forms.


The VFW or American Legion in your Uncle's area should be able to help, and may even be able to help with burial arrangements/honor guard/salute/ceremony etc. The nearest military unit (active,reserve or guard) for his branch of service may be able to help out with a honor guard and Chaplain as well.

[hotrod ford]

Try this: http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG7iKy ... .army.mil/ : This is the recource I used to contact ad get information foe my father. He served during the Korean War. They will ask a bunch of questions though. I he was in before the 70's most likely he will have a service # and not a SSN. I hope this helps.

[basketcase0302]

Real good info guys, thanks!

[rjewkes]

Thank you guys, they founds his DD-214, still had a question of if his injury forced him out or if he wussed out. monday they decided he wasn't offered to stay in Appearantly back then Tire irons through both knees, was a job ender.

so since he didn't leave early from the two years minimum they state of his own will they gave him his Burrial at Willamette Memorial in Portland,OR Yesterday as i type this. lets save this info though for future needs.


And while there They got a picture of Grandmas Tombstone. She got burried there in july of 97 becuase Grandpa was USN.

Saddly thats another problem, nobody cared back in 91 when grandpa died that he was elligable for such burrial(and at 10 years old i had no clue). So he got a normal Graveyard that somehow (due to a loud mouth know it all friend of grandmas, who hated Grandpa) Failed to include the setting fee in the package. So the Veterans paid for a beautiful Marker that still sits in the corner of their parking lot. they won't set it without money. Money i'd give if i had it.

any chance the Vets would kick some grubby greedy Funeral home/Cemetary butt on that? if not is there a group who would put a squeeze on this place, these guys are the guys who in august or september/october of 91 got cuaght having dug up,cremated dumped ashes and either resold the plots or sold the land the plot was on to developers. they was called Lima Family Morturaries in San Jose and Fremont, CA.

[ford4x4fun]

Your one stop shop for anything concerning things like this are the Veteran Groups. VFW and American Legion. If they are like the one in my hometown it is a major networking source of important and not so important people. But they all have one thing in common they are all veterans and usually will help out in areas that concern veterans.

[SmoothJ69]

Is your grandpa's plot in the same place, portland? do you know how much (even an approx.) of what the setting fee is?

I can't promise anything but I am the pr officer for chapter 11-1 (WA - kitsap peninsula) of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association. we are a 501(c)(19) non-profit war veterans organization, our motto is Vets helping Vets. I can try to get you in contact with someone from the OR chapter tho I will admit we are a little weak in membership there. Worse case the WA state chapters can help out, we just started a new chapter in olympia that is strong in supporting things like this. You can send me an email at pr@wacvma11-1.org if you want to give me some info like name, location, cost etc.

[rjewkes]

Okay so after reading the Funeral homes website and it's VA benfits page, i understand that grandpa got His VA Ceremony and his 600 reimursement or rather grandma got it on his behalf. But for some reason No one pushed for getting him into a VA national Cem, and still somehow someone overlooked the stones setting fee. in 2000 it was quoted at 600 clamshells. I have yet to have 600 clams saved up. i did email them to see what can be done.

perhaps i can find a group such as VFW/CVMA or any of the Veterans for veterans type services to get the setting fee either lowered to affordable standards like 250-300 or if any of them could pay it and arrange for me to pay it back monthly until it is paid.

[SmoothJ69]

Well send me an email when you find out more, and let me know the particulars. We are always willing to help a veterans cause and as I said we are a 501(c)(19) non-profit both state (wa) and federal (so donations are tax deductible) and we have a gambling license so we can do raffles and whatnot.

[rjewkes]

Also thinking back on the particulars, the previous Owners of the cemetery was doing devious things so it's highly Devious that a $12,000 plus bill there would not include the setting fee.

i'll have to get a copy of the paper from when this happened but it was just months after we laid him down that they got caught and fined. and they always gave us a different plot #/location when we came to visit. and none of them jived with what i remember and i have a photographic memmory. also i think they have the original single layer plot on records but not the double layered it got changed to when they decided to reserve a spot for grandma.

I'll get further particulars and email you then.