The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-04-27

! If you were once an officer but have been retired or released to in active status for physical disability by retiring board. and have not been granted retirement pay, you will he interested in Section 302 of l the CT Bill.
 1 The Retirement Board may have held that your disability wasn't in cured or aggravated in the service. There have been many such cases some of them quite unfair to the Officer. But the CT Bill provides a chance to appeal.
 Yet you must have new slant to offer or evidence to show that the retiring boards decision was ob- viously or legally incorrect. In short you've got to be able to prove your contention.
 It's probable the time to do it is now - before evidence, witnesses, re- cords and even interest drifts away However, you have Is years (after June p, l944 or after your release the later) to file.
 At the moment, the only boards set up under Section 302 are operat- ing in Washington, so most ex- officers won't be able to appear per- sonally.
 But that's O. K. Written state ments are allowed and affidavits of witnesses can be filed. The Adjut- ant Generals Office (Army) or the Judge Advocate Generals Office (Navy) should be asked for the proper method to follow in filing an appeal.
 Section 301 of the CT Bill applies to any ex-service people (enlisted or commissioned who feel that the types of discharges or dismissals they received are unfair and shoud be changed. Section BOP applies only to officers who have been retired without pay.
 All the boards created by Sec tions 301 and 302 have a big task ahead. but the dope get seems to indicate that these boards realize the seriousness of their work. I'd guess that a member of one of these boards has tiring and even monot- onous job. Yet, to many veterans, the results can be more important than frosted window glass in the shower room of WAC barracks.
 Undoubtedly, notable number of discharge cases were gummed up by the haste of many service men pass ing through the wringers of the Army and Navy on their way out. mean that some incorrect decisions are sure to have been made.
 This is proved at least by army figures which have been furnished to me by the War Department. By March, the Army discharge re- view board tSection 30D had waded through 662 appeals of global war veterans since November, l944. The type of discharge was changed in 192 instances by the board. Most of these appeals were from former en- listed men, but some officers, war rant and flight officers were among them.
 Think that over. veteran. if you have hesitated about putting in an appeal, Of the ex-service men of this war whose appeal cases have been heard, over 29 per cent won their appeals!
 Since October, 1944, the army dis ability review board (Under Section 302) has heard 91 appeals of form CT officers who were retired be- cause of disability without pay. It has reversed 26 of the original find- ings, saying the disabilities were incurred in line of duty.
 | This means that one in every three and half cases went in fa- vor of the ex-officer. Again the proportions is nearly 29 per cent
 certainly an encouraging shot in the army for many disabled officers. !, You'll do some waiting, I believe
 The process is slow. know one vet
 eran who put in an appeal (Section
 302) in the middle of January, but
 his case wasn't scheduled to come