The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1946-08-31

on a qualified veterans account.
The new amendment may make
them eligible for monthly benefit
payments, or it may increase the
amount of the lump-sum benefit
In the latter case, they will re-
ceive the difference between the
lump sum they received and the
larger amount they are eligible for
under the new amendment, if they
apply at the office of the Social
Security Administration.
AS in the case of all other per-
sons qualified for social security
benefits, families of deceased vet
Grams to whom this new section
of the law has immediate applica-
ton, should come to our office to
file their benefit claim as soon as
possible.
There is, of course, no action to
be taken under the new amend
ment by veterans or dependents
of living veterans, since the amend
ment affects only survivors of vet
Grams who have met the qualifi-
cations of the new measure, in
Guiding ineligibility for Veterans
Administration payments, an dwho
have died.
1t is estimated by the Veterans
Administration that up to June 80,
1946, approximately 10000 veterans
of World War II had died after
discharge from service This fig
ure, however, is the one for all
deaths after discharge, and it in
cludes the deaths of veterans whose
survivors were eligible for Veterans
Administration pensions. Survivors
of only small percentage of the
10000 veterans would be eligible
for benefits under the amendment
to the Social Security Act.
Future beneficiaries of the mea-
sure will be the survivors of quail
fled veterans who die within three
years after their discharge and who
are discharged within four years
and day after the end of the
war as determined by a Presiden-
tial proclamation or a resolution
of Congress-
In all, it is expected that the sur
vivors of from 100000 to 10000
veterans viii receive benefits un-
der the amendment.
The purpose of the measure is
to bridge the gap in survivorship
protection that is encountered by
the eX-serviceman in the three
year period following his discharge
from service.
Many persons, the social secur-
ity office manager said, lost the
rights they had accumulated under
the old-age and survivors insur-
ance program through the passage
of time after they had entered the
armed forces. The potential bene-
fit amounts of others were reduced.
Other persons, who entered ma.
tional service without having had
the opportunity to build social in
surance status by means of prior
civilian employment, were depriv-
ed of their chance of doing so by
their military service.
The survivorship protection ex-
tended to qualified veterans by
the amendment was limited to a
three-year period after the date
of discharge in the belief that by
the end of that time most veterans
will have succeeded in establishing
or re-establishing insured status
in social security through civilian
work in employment covered by
the Social Security Act.
Survivors of veterans who died
in service or from service-connect-
ed causes are protected by the Vet
Grams Administrator program. To
close the gap between the point
where Veterans Administration
protection leaves off and the point
where social. security protection
may begin, the new enactment
gives the veteran the social Sc
curity status of fully insured
worker for three years after this
service discharge. This makes his
survivors eligible for the various
types of benefits provided under
the old-age and survivors insur-