Army vet has government letter declaring him dead

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — An 81-year-old Army veteran from Wisconsin wants the U.S. government to know he's alive and well, despite its information to the contrary.

Kenneth Brunner's wife, Julie, received a letter Monday from the U.S. Veterans Benefits Administration, expressing sympathy for his passing and directing her not to cash anymore benefits checks.

Kenneth Brunner said he receives a monthly disability check because of injuries he received in 1955 while in the Army. He was injured at a Texas Air Force base when a cable snapped on a piece of heavy equipment and struck him, the State Journal ( http://bit.ly/1xklRos ) reported.

"It broke me up pretty bad," Brunner said. "For the first few days in the hospital they told me they didn't know if I was going to live or die."

FULL story at link.



In this photo taken on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014, Kenneth C. Brunner, holds up a letter at his home in Madison, Wis., that was addressed to his wife from the Department of Veterans Affairs stating that he had died and she would receive a check for the month that he passed. Brunner, an 81-year-old Army veteran, says he tried to call the agency Tuesday to deliver a few choice words, but the office was closed for Veterans Day. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, Amber Arnold)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141113/us--veteran_not_dead-c79f013bf8.html

[Jackpine Radical]

1. For true conoisseurs of sick irony only--

"Brunner, an 81-year-old Army veteran, says he tried to call the agency Tuesday to deliver a few choice words, but the office was closed for Veterans Day."

[sybylla]

5. I noticed that too, Jackpine.

Crazy. I fear how many months it will take for them to get this straightened out and start getting checks again.

[onecent]

2. That happened to my friend. Her husband died

in 2007 and about 3 or 4 years later she got mail from the government saying
Betty XXXXXXX was deceased..sorry to hear about your loss.

and she is still alive today, nearly 76 years old and in better health than most Americans
that are 45.

It took her ALOT TO GET THAT FIXED.

[KamaAina]

3. Is his name Francisco Franco?

[Omaha Steve]

4. DUZY

[MADem]

6. He should write to his congressman and CALL the SecDef.

While he's faxing the AP newspaper report to the SecDef's chief of staff!


I normally don't go for that kind of chain-jumping, but this dude is eighty one and he needs his benefit.

[hack89]

7. That's one way to get out of household chores. nt

[Tracer]

8. Similar thing happened to me.

Got a call from a woman at the local Social Security office who very, very tentatively asked if "Tracer" was at home.

When I said "yes, that's me", she breathed a sigh of relief.

Seems that somehow a number on my SS card referred to old railroad workers and I had been declared dead.

I had to go in person to the SS office with my passport, driver's licence and a couple of recent bills to prove that I was alive.

I must say that they were very nice and completely apologetic!

[whistler162]

9. They didn't require a pulse check?

Given the on going Zombie problem they should have.