Benefits for veterans from foreign country?? (assisted, friend, family)

[tennis32801]

Long shot, but with the cost of assisted living, trying to see all resources available.

My 82 year old dad served in the South Vietnamese Army, fighting alongside US soldiers during the Vietnam war. He been a US citizen since he emigrated back in the early 80s.

I presume he isn’t qualified for VA benefits?? Thanks

[Parnassia]

But he wasn't a US citizen when he served, and he wasn't registered as a US soldier, right? I have read that there are some VA benefits extended to foreign allies of WWI and WWII. There are some different benefits specific to veterans of the Vietnam War.

https://www.va.gov/healthbenefits/ap...eficiaries.asp

It doesn't mention the Vietnam War, but it might lead you in the right direction. Talk to the VA.

[tennis32801]

Thanks, your first sentence is correct. Will call VA at least to confirm

[Southern man]

Originally Posted by tennis32801

Long shot, but with the cost of assisted living, trying to see all resources available.

My 82 year old dad served in the South Vietnamese Army, fighting alongside US soldiers during the Vietnam war. He been a US citizen since he emigrated back in the early 80s.

I presume he isn’t qualified for VA benefits?? Thanks

If he gets it, let me know. I was born in the USA and served three years in the US Army and I am in the lowest category of elegibility for benefits.

[engineman]

Asking is free. and it changes as the politicians tinker with it.

I didn't qualify for a GI mortgage in 1961, but I did in 1967.

[Roselvr]

I'm glad you were given a link to inquire, doesn't hurt to call to see if we have an agreement with his home country.

There is also a military section of CD.

[recycled]

Originally Posted by Southern man

If he gets it, let me know. I was born in the USA and served three years in the US Army and I am in the lowest category of elegibility for benefits.

I'm the same case as you, with 4 years service in the US Army in the 1970s. When I was working for many decades in Orange County, CA (home of a huge population of refugees from the Vietnam Conflict) I had a co-worker who was a former officer of the South Vietnamese navy. After victory by the north and re-unification, he spent almost a decade in a work "re-education" camp in the north. After that, he managed to leave and eventually reach the USA and live a pretty good life after many years of hard work. He got no benefits from the US veterans administration. People forget, there was no official declared in Vietnam, it was a long military intervention.

Here in Germany, I have a friend who is a couple of years older than me, a former North Vietnamese combat soldier who was drafted young and survived many years of the war. In the 1980s he went to communist East Germany as a foreign laborer and ended up staying here. I have been to his home a few times and met his family, and the war years are not talked about much.