Just a couple of days after Obama took office, the Army cut off retirement pay for Alaska’s World War II Territorial Militia. Read about it below, see photos and a video.
Alaska Territorial Militia
The Alaska Territorial Militia protected and guarded Alaska and the United States during World War II, before it became a state and when it was a territory of the United States. During World War II they guarded against a Japanese attack by sea, built air strips and performed other tasks in the service of their country. They were never paid for their services.
The militia was a volunteer unit made up of approximately 6,600 men, primarily Natives. They guarded the Alaskan border from 1942 until 1947. The Army never kept records of those who served, therefore their story was almost lost to the ages.
In 2000, Congress voted to give the Alaska Territorial Guard federal recognition for their World War II service. It took seven years to compile their names.
Now there are about 300 of those men still alive and they are all in their 80s. Twenty-six of those men have been receiving a monthly retirement payment of $557 per month and there are another 37 surviving members with applications pending.
On January 22, 2009, the Army announced the benefits to the surviving Alaska Territorial Guard will be cut. The payments are scheduled to end on February 1, 2009.
The men have advocates in Alaska Governor Sarah Palin who has sent a letter to President Obama asking him to reconsider discontinuing the benefits to these World War II veterans. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski and Democratic Senator Mark Begich are introducing legislation asking that their benefits be continued and have also sent a letter to Obama asking him to reconsider and intervene.
“What kind of a government, what kind of a Cruella, could cut retirement benefits to a group of Eskimos in their 80s in the dead of Alaskan winter?” the Alaska Republican asked Thursday on the Senate floor. “It is time for some soul searching on this at the Pentagon.”
Alaskan Natives are already suffering greatly this winter, without any help from the federal government to help them get through this brutal winter. Now their elderly World War II vets get this devastating news.
It seems to me that we now have a government run completely by the democratic party that has not even blinked at the talk of spending money in the trillions of dollars to bail out corporations, banks and to pour money into pet projects. I find it hard to understand why they would decide to save money by cutting off the few hundred dollars that would to ease the later years of men who gave years of their youth to serve and protect the country during a time of great danger.
They served as a territory of the United States, just as men from other territories serve today and receive pay and pensions for their service.
We all need to urge our Representatives to do the right thing by these men and see that they get their military pensions. They earned it and they earned the gratitude of this nation.
Alaska Territorial Militia - Video