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Old Sun Jul 3, 2011, 10:49 AM
Bob Macfarlane Bob Macfarlane is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Soutwest Ranches, Florida
Posts: 126
Widow letter to Shinseki

Names and claim number removed to protect the widows privacy:

Sec. Eric Shinseki, Department of Veterans' Affairs

Dear Sec. Shinseki:

On September 29, 2010 The Department of Veterans Affairs denied my request for dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) for the death of my husband, COL. Mxxxxx Xyzxyzxyz. VA Claim#?????????????????. I disagreed with their decision and sent in a Notice of Disagreement (NOD). To date, I have not had a decision on my appeal.

I understand that you have interceded in the usually very time consuming request for compensation to the Department of Veterans Affairs for one of your West Point classmates and that his claim was successfully processed in a short time. (Chicago Tribune, Dec.2006)

I would like to also request your help in processing the claim I have put in to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

My husband was not a West Point graduate, but he was a 30 year career officer, he taught at the Academy for 5 years, and both my oldest son and my son-in-law are graduates. Another son was a ROTC graduate. Maybe that’s enough to earn your help.

The following is a short synopsis: My husband was exposed to the Agent Orange herbicide because of his service in Vietnam during 1969 to 1970. Additionally, he was in Quang Tri in the 75thSupport Battalion of the 5th Infantry where the component chemical supplies for napalm were received and combined. Benzene is one of the components of napalm, which was used extensively in fighting the Viet Cong in the Quang Tri area.

In May 2005, the McGuire Veterans Hospital in Richmond, VA confirmed Mxxxxx’s bone marrow malfunction, and Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS)was diagnosed. To date the V.A. Agent Orange list of acknowledged cancers does not include MDS.

Between May 2005 and September 2009 my husband was treated at the V.A. Hospital in Richmond, VA for MDS, which progressed to Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) and then to Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML.) Complications from the AML finally took his life on 30 September 2009.

Please ask the Philadelphia Regional Office to quickly return a favorable decision on my request for DIC.

Thank you,

Lillian
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