HOW WASHINGTON SUPPORTS
THE TROOPS AND THEIR FAMILIES

 

 

U.S. reneges on death benefits
to soldiers' relatives

 

 

The Forgotten Families
Grandparents Raising Slain Soldiers' Children Are Denied
A Government Benefit Intended to Sustain the Bereaved
The Washington Post Friday, 16 February 2007 / Page A01

By DONNA ST. GEORGE

Her daughter was killed by a bomb in Iraq. Eight months later, Susan Jaenke is both grief-stricken and strapped — behind on her mortgage, backed up on her bills and shut out of the $100,000 government death benefit that her daughter thought she had left her.

The problem is that Jaenke is not a wife, not a husband, but instead grandmother to the 9-year-old her daughter left behind. "Grandparents," she said, "are forgotten in this."

For the Jaenkes and others like them, the toll of war can be especially complex: They face not only the anguish of losing a son or daughter but also the emotional, legal and financial difficulties of putting the pieces back together for a grandchild.

They confront this without the $100,000 "death gratuity" that military spouses ordinarily get — a payment intended to ease the financial strain as families await government survivors' benefits.

 

Remember the watchword of good old Uncle Samuel:
'USE 'EM, ABUSE 'EM, AND FORGET 'EM!