Highlands Today photo by KATHY WATERS After 58 years of living with disabilities he incurred during World War II, John Meek of Sebring will finally get disability benefits.
Posted on 09/22/2004 6:02:36 PM PDT by samantha
Highlands Today photo by KATHY WATERS After 58 years of living with disabilities he incurred during World War II, John Meek of Sebring will finally get disability benefits.
Persistence Pays Off
By NANCY VICKERS-PYLE npyle@highlandstoday.com Published: Sep 22, 2004
SEBRING — Sometimes you have to take it to the top. John Meek did, finally, after exhausting all other options over a period of 58 years. Meek wrote a letter to President Bush last March asking for his military disability pay.
His memory is generous and accurate as he tells of his service to his country during World War II, something he is quick tell you that he has never regretted.
However, the U.S. Army, a discharge officer and the Veterans Affairs have not served Meek well since he left the Army.
Meek enlisted in the Coast Guard well before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
“I was in Louisiana on Pearl Harbor Day,” Meek said Tuesday.
And then it was war so the Coast Guard came under the direction of the secretary of the U.S. Navy. Meek was reassigned to the galley from the engine room of a ship as a seaman.
There he served under three head cooks. “I just did what I was ordered to do.”
One afternoon, about a month later, one of the cooks, “Roscoe Sweeney was so sick that he told me to get the evening mail,” Meek said.
Sweeney had a ruptured appendix. Another cook was on a 10-day leave in South Carolina. The third cook was so drunk that some of the crew put him in a wheelbarrow and dumped him out on the ship’s deck.
The ship captains took a vote and pointed at Meek to replace the cooks.
“So I took over. I cooked meatloaf, hashbrowns, vegetables, made salad and baked a cake for the first meal.”
Because of his efforts, he was promoted to Seaman second class within a month. Meek stayed in the galley for two and a half years. He was responsible for feeding up to 5,000 soldiers and 500 staff. That meant ordering the food for trips that might take six months at sea.
There were other duties he shared with soldiers like loading 400 pound shells that contributed to back problems he still deals with. He was later transferred to the U.S.S. William H. Gordon, a big troop transfer ship, Meek said.
One of the duties on that ship was repairing things from a tank under water. An accident sent Meek plummeting down into the ocean so fast that his left eardrum was ruptured and his right eardrum severely damaged.
Meek still sports large hearing aids in both years.
Meek traveled the world on that ship and saw plenty of war action in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. When he was discharged in March 1946, he was told he would be on disability the rest of his life.
A discharge officer, however, had him sign discharge papers that said otherwise, leaving him to document the injuries on his own.
Life went on for Meek. He had a dairy farm. He lost his first wife and remarried three years later. He went to work for a friend after he sold the farm and eventually moved to Florida in the early 1970s to work on heavy equipment.
Though out the 58 years since he left the service, Meek tried to get disability.
There were so many jobs he was qualified to do but lack of hearing and the damaged back prevented that.
He worked with VA hospitals, with senators, congressmen, the American Legion, all to no avail.
There were promises made, there were hundreds of questions, there were plenty of doubts but there were no answers for Meek.
Records showed he was discharged in September 1945 and that he was from New York.
He produced his birth certificate that showed he was not. He was born in Ohio and he was aboard ship in the Philippines in September 1945 – he was not being discharged.
He was discharged in March of the following year.
“The VA kept telling me that I was this other John Meek,” he said.
Denise Williams of the local veterans administration told him to never give up.
But Meek’s case was closed.
Last March, Meek wrote a letter to the president.
He got a Christmas card from the same in December.
In February, Meek got a call from the VA in West Palm Beach.
The case was reopened.
There were two John Meeks, one with B. for a middle initial.
The Sebring Meek is John A. Meek.
Regardless, John A. Meek finally has disability and it is retroactive to March 2003, which is when he wrote the president.
Meek is relieved. He didn’t question a full retroactive payment.
“Thank God. I have prayed and prayed for this. We won our case 100 percent. No strings attached,” Meek said.
Meek said he wonders how many other servicemen who were disabled were denied payments because of that one discharge officer.
“President Bush is an honorable man,” Meek said. “There is no doubt that he helped make this happen. If I was young and able, I’d serve my country again. Especially with Bush as president.”
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Hoorah!
What a humble and honorable guy. I don't know if I'd be so forgiving after almost 60 years.
“President Bush is an honorable man,” Meek said. “There is no doubt that he helped make this happen. If I was young and able, I’d serve my country again. Especially with Bush as president.”
Bush shows over and over what an honorable man he is by doing common decency acts.
I think he deserves a lump sum payment, of all the back monies since 1945. I will be happy to kick in a $50...
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A similar thing happened to my dad. He was in appeals when he passed away. First they said he didn't serve long enough to receive benefits. Then, one of the places they stored records burned, so they had on record he had been KIA.
The veteran system alone should be good enough reason to not have a national healthcare system.
I do too,he should get 100 percent disability and back pay from 1946.He came to Bush/Cheney HQ for a sign,and our great gals working that day instantly fell in love with him. He is a treasure,and is a very humble man. You cannot beat that WW2 generation.
Excellent. GW Bush. Our next president.
However, the U.S. Army, a discharge officer and the Veterans Affairs have not served Meek well since he left the Army.
Meek enlisted in the Coast Guard well before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
The Army isn't the Coast Guard. Nor is it the Navy. There is no indication that this man had anything to do with the Army.
Because of his efforts, he was promoted to Seaman second class within a month.
What is that rank? E 2-1/2 or something? Did the author mean, perhaps, Petty Officer Second Class (which was my highest rank in the Navy)?
There were other duties he shared with soldiers like loading 400 pound shells that contributed to back problems he still deals with.
This is the second mention of soldiers on the ship. I hope it's because soldiers actually were on board (being transported somewhere), and not because this author doesn't know the difference between a sailor and a soldier. (Every time I hear Kerry referred to as a former soldier, I want to scream! Soldiers are Army! Sailors are Navy! Go Army! Go Navy!)
I'm glad this man finally got his disability payments, but it irritates me no end when people can't get military facts straight.
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