We call it the "gift that keeps on giving" - benefits! Veterans are filing for disabilities at historic rates, with about 45 percent of those from Iraq and Afghanistan. But, aren't we a little surprised to see that there are survivors of World War I, the Spanish-American War and the Civil War still receiving payments?
There are at least 10 living recipients of benefits tied to the 1898 Spanish[-American War at a cost of about $ 50,000 per year. The Civil War payments are going to two children of veterans - one in North Carolina and one in Tennessee - each for $ 876 per year.
Their names have not been disclosed but their ages suggest the one in Tennessee was born around 1920 and the one from NC around 1930. A veteran who was young during the War Between the States would have been roughly 70 or 80 when those two were born.
And that's not unheard of. At age 86, Juanita Tudor Lowrey is the daughter of a Cavil War vet. Her father fought in the Union army and after his first wife died, Tudor was 73 when he married Lowrey's mother in 1920. Lowrey was born in 1926.She suspects the marriage might have been one of convenience )"a nurse and a purse"?). He died when she was around two and Lowrey received pension benefits until she was 18.
Lowrey says, "we are few and far between" now! Well, I have mentioned before that Uncle Hartwell was a "real son" of a veteran. He (Uncle Hartwell) went to be with the Lord March 18, 1992.
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