Alaska WWII militiamen will get retirement pay - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Alaska WWII militiamen will get retirement pay

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Secretary of the Army has authorized emergency funds for 26 surviving members of a World War II Alaska militia unit whose retirement pay was being reduced because of a legal technicality, Alaska's congressional delegation said Wednesday.

Army officials last week said a military analysis determined the law recognizing the Alaska Territorial Guard's service as federal active duty had initially been misinterpreted. Under the new interpretation, service in the five-year-guard no longer counts in calculating the military's 20-year minimum for retirement pay, although it still applies to military benefits, including medical benefits.

"These emergency payments will give us some time to get the problem resolved while making sure these brave Alaskans get the retirement pay they so deserve," said Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska.

The three-member delegation said that at its urging, Army Secretary Pete Geren will dip into an emergency fund to cover the pay for the 26 former members of the largely Native guard. The pay will equal two months worth while Congress works on legislation introduced by the delegation Wednesday to fix the law to allow the service in the unit to counts as active duty for calculating retirement pay.

"In this era of high fuel and food costs, it would be tragic to reduce the retirement checks of these elders who have done so much for our nation," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

Army officials could not immediately be reached for comment. But the delegation said the survivors will receive a one-time emergency payment equal to two months pay, with the checks sent out as soon as Wednesday.

The announcement was good news for 78-year-old Paul Kiunya, a former territorial guard who lives in the western Alaska village of Kipnuk. Kiunya, a National Guard veteran who faced a $358 loss in his retirement package, said he needs every cent.

"We have a long winter to go yet," he said. "It costs me almost $900 a month to heat my home. My light bill is almost $500 a month."

Retirement payment claims by 31 other former ATG members remain suspended until the law is clarified, said Jerry Beale of the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. He said the military should have gone to Alaska's congressional representatives in the first place.

"The Army should have never stopped the pay until the congressional delegation was notified and had an opportunity to clarify the law or at least answer their questions," he said. "But as a result, this certainly brought the service of the members of the ATG to the forefront and people are now aware of how the residents of rural Alaska were willing to defend our nation."

An estimated 300 members are still living from the original 6,600-member unit formed in 1942 to protect the vast territory from the threat of Japanese attack years before Alaska became a state. The unit stepped in after the Alaska National Guard was called overseas.

The territorial guards — nicknamed Uncle Sam's Men and Eskimo Scouts — received no pay or benefits for the job. Many replaced their time hunting and fishing for their food with frequent drills and duties that varied from scouting patrols and construction of military airstrips to hundreds of miles of trail breaking.

The unit was disbanded with little fanfare in 1947, nearly two years after the war ended.

The state has long recognized the contribution of the territorial guard, but federal recognition was slow in coming.

Congress finally passed in law in 2000 qualifying time served in the guard as active federal service. The Army agreed in 2004 to grant official military discharge certificates to members or their survivors.

Those who qualified for military retirement benefits began receiving increased pay for service in the militia starting in June, when the former members also received payments retroactive to the law's passage in 2000.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, called the decision to reduce payments "a huge misstep by the Department of Defense." He said it was the intention of Congress that benefits "would be for life, not until the DoD reinterpreted legislative language to suit their needs."

Alaska's congressional delegation, as well as Gov. Sarah Palin, had also sent a letter to President Obama asking that he intervene. Obama was sworn into office several days after the Army's decision was made.