Posted on 09/05/2012 4:26:14 PM PDT by SMGFan
Democratic House candidate Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) emphasized the cost of war Wednesday with a curious example.
The former assistant Veterans Affairs secretary, who lost her legs serving in Iraq, noted that the federal government is still paying out pensions to the children of two Civil War veterans — 147 years after the conflict ended.
“We have to understand what the cost of war is. We are still in this country paying for two children of Civil War veterans,” Duckworth told a flabbergasted panel on veterans hosted by the Truman National Security Project.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
I don’t think they are children any more
Oh my God, the world's going to end, we're all going to die!!!!!
Well every little bit adds up. How about we start with them and go from there.
Yeah, but a Civil War pension sure isn’t going to break the bank. What are they getting, around $27/month? I vote that they leave them alone and leave their pensions intact.
I don’t think they are children any more
A good question
>>Maybe I’m nuts, but how is this possible that we are paying for children of Civil War Veterans?
Maybe they’ve been dead since 1960, but they’re such loyal Democrat voters that the government doesn’t want to drop them off the rolls.
Lets guess that these are 90 year old now... so born in 1932.
Assume their mothers were young (20 year old), but got married to someone with a guaranteed income (ie a government pension).
Assume their fathers were 80 when they were born (1932 minus 80 is 1852 as the fathers birth year).
In the last year of the civil war (1865) they would have been 13 years old. Possible as a drummer or even as a late-war conscript for the south.
Wanna really go nuts?
Former President John Tyler, born in 1790, still has two living grandchildren.
http://ironbrigader.com/2012/02/13/children-civil-war-veterans-alive-147-years-war-ended/
Served young, fathered late.
it’s simple. A young civil war soldier gets old during the Depression. He marries a 16-year-old and he dies while impregnating her-it’s like assault with a dead weapon. The child is a war orphan and his momma a war widow and still alive.
How does the math work here?
My greatgreatgrandad was in the CW, in 1863 he was twelve, which means he was born in 1851.
Even if he fathered a child at 100, that would be 1951.
His child would no longer be a child in 1969, at age 18.
Is there some special stipulation that CW vet’s children receive benefits forever?
Albert Woolson, the last Union veteran, died in 1956 at age 106. There were still a good many of these guys extant in the 1920s and 1930s- it is not inconceivable they had children late in life.
Here’s one to wrap your head around- the last veteran of the American Revolution died in 1868...around long enough to have seen the Civil War and known the abovementioned Mr. Woolson....two lifetimes spanning much of the history of this nation.
I’ll bet she didn’t mention that 330,000 White Union Military died between 1861-1865 to free the slaves.
An inconvenient memory if you’re a Democrat, a Cargo Cultist and/or looking for repartitions.
God bless her for her service and sacrifices. Watched part of her speech last night, believe should keep better company.
Daddy had them when he was in his 80s, and the kids are over 100. What was the point she was trying to make? She’s running for office as a Democrat. Is she trying to help Veterans, or the Democrat party?
bump
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