Veteran gets Benefits after 56-Year Battle with VA

A Montgomery television station reports that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is giving an Alabama veteran more than $100,000 after the serviceman’s 56-year struggle to get benefits.

85-year-old Korean War veteran Willie McCall suffers from debilitating, combat-related health issues.

McCall says during his time as a rifleman during the Korean conflict, the weather was so cold it left him with frostbite, jungle rot and circulation issues.

The Montgomery station reports that despite multiple diagnoses, McCall was denied VA benefits and those denials date back to the late 1950s.

A VA official said in a statement to WSFA that McCall’s benefits have finally been granted due to a diagnosis that wasn’t considered during the veteran’s most recent hearing.

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