Remembering Our Nation's Veterans

Remembering Our Nation's Veterans

Weekly Column by Senator Susan M. Collins

As a country in the midst of a war, many Americans are continually reminded of the contributions being made by members of our armed forces. Service men and women have defended our freedom since America was founded more than 225 years ago. Veterans Day offers us the opportunity to salute these veterans of the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard who have selflessly served our country throughout history.

At the end of World War II-the world's most costly war-Maine veterans returned home and went back to work or school, got married, raised their children, and for the most part, kept wartime experiences and service to their country close to the vest.

Tom Brokaw's best-seller opened up the memory floodgates for America's "Greatest Generation" and has given us the opportunity to recognize and honor their individual contributions and sacrifices.

My offices in Maine have had the honor of helping dozens of these World War II heroes receive the medals and honors that they earned and deserved but in many cases never received at that time.

One of those heroes, Gilbert Bourassa, a World War II veteran from Scarborough, recently received his Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal to accompany the Purple Heart and other medals that he earned long ago.

Born in Canada, Gilbert came to Maine as a child and lived most of his life in Biddeford. He worked as a truck driver as a young man, but when the war clouds gathered in Europe, he enlisted in 1939 as a Private in a coastal artillery battery of the Maine National Guard. After America's entry into the war, he entered the United States Navy and served until his honorable discharge in October 1945.

Gilbert served courageously as a Gunner Mate Third Class on five different Armed Vessels which carried vital supplies to the war fronts in North Africa, Italy, Europe, and the Pacific.

When Gilbert's vessel would return to port, his wife Ethel and their young daughter Catherine would take the train south to New York City so they could stay with him. Each time his ship would head out onto uncertain and risk-filled ocean lanes where the U-Boats lurked, Ethel and Catherine would watch from a Brooklyn rooftop. Two of his five vessels were torpedoed and sunk. His wounds from the war are honored by his Purple Heart medal.

Gilbert's great-grandson, David Twomey III, a recent summer college intern in my Biddeford office, researched Gilbert's service records and medals. In his research, David discovered that his great-grandfather was eligible for the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and took the steps necessary to get Gilbert's medal.

The medal ceremony took place while David was home on a college break, and Gilbert's extended family gathered around him at the Scarborough home of Dave and Catherine (Bourassa) Twomey. Representing the two women who watched from that Brooklyn rooftop and anxiously waited back in Maine for his safe return, his daughter Catherine presented Gilbert Bourassa with his seventh World War II medal-the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal.

I applaud David for recognizing his great-grandfather's contribution, and I am grateful to Gilbert for his service to our country.

Through my father, a World War II veteran who was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge and earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, I have been personally touched and inspired by the sacrifices made by all of our veterans. That is why I believe it is so important for veterans to have access to the benefits they worked so hard to earn.

Recently, the Senate approved The Veterans Health Programs Improvement Act, which I supported. It will improve care for our nation's veterans and the facilities that serve them. It also includes provisions based on legislation that I cosponsored earlier this year that improves the way the VA distributes funds to support State Veterans Homes across the country, including the five in Maine.

Currently, states receive a federal "per diem" payment to assist in caring for each wartime veteran who resides in a State Veterans Home. A recent administrative ruling raised questions about whether these federal "per diem" payments should be reduced if the patient also receives Medicaid coverage. This legislation protects these VA dollars from being taken away from State Veterans Homes.

Many veterans depend on health care benefits in order to recover from injuries they suffered as a result of serving our country. And there is no reason for these benefits to be reduced. Federal per diem payments are critical to the success of State Veterans Homes, and this legislation ensures that this funding will continue. It would be contrary to the intent of Congress, when it established the VA payment system, for these dollars to be redirected elsewhere.

The bill, which was requested by the Maine Veterans Homes, is an important step in ensuring that State Veterans Homes across the country continue to receive the VA payments they need in order to provide healthcare services to our nation's veterans. While this legislation has not yet passed the House of Representatives, I will continue to advocate for this bill to be approved and sent to the President.

Another bill recently signed by President Bush that will help our veterans is the Fiscal Year 2005 Defense Authorization Bill. This legislation helps to protect the financial security of surviving spouses and children of military retirees by eliminating the Social Security offset under the Survivor Benefit Plan. It does this by increasing the annuities paid to survivors of military retirees who are 62 years of age or older over the next four years.

All Americans owe so much to the brave men and women who defended us in the past and continue to defend our freedom today. As we celebrate Veterans Day, I believe President Harry Truman's words that are now inscribed over the opening into the new World War II Memorial in Washington are appropriate:

"Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices."