ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Nearly eight decades after leaving the U.S. Army, 103-year-old World War II veteran Louis Gigliotti is finally receiving his veterans benefits after his caregiver discovered he was paying his medical expenses out of his own pocket.
“He knew he had served and he was a veteran, so he went to the veterans hospital,” said Melanie Carey, Gigliotti’s niece-in-law and his caregiver. “I don’t think he knew there were benefits to doing that.”
Carey recently began caring for her uncle-in-law – known as “Jiggs” – after he suffered two strokes; one in 2023 and another this year.
She said she discovered his medical bills.
“(I) noticed he was getting VA bills and the same thing with his medical bills,” Carey said. “He was getting those and it didn’t make sense why he was still paying for them.”
Carey said she contacted the Department of Veterans Affairs, where the organization began processing Gigliotti’s paperwork and enrolling him in the VA health care system.
“This was the first time he applied for benefits, and that’s pretty crazy because he’s 103 years old,” said Verdie Bowen, the director of the Veterans Affairs Office. “He had told us that he had waited so long because he had more than enough money to pay for his care. And now he was running out of money.”
Carey said the money is a great help to him as a caregiver and will ensure Gigliotti gets the care he needs.
“Now I don’t have to worry about finding a doctor to get him the equipment he needs,” Carey said. “Anything – I just call the veterans hospital and they arrange everything for him.”
When Bowen heard the news about Gigliotti, he said it was surprising. Bowen added that there are thousands of veterans like Gigliotti who still have not received veterans’ benefits.
In Alaska alone, this number is around 35,000, according to Bowen.
“We don’t want our veterans to have to dip their last dollar into their savings if they sustained this injury in the line of duty. And the service is responsible for providing care,” Bowen said.
Bowen says he encourages all veterans to apply for their VA benefits. He said active duty soldiers can apply for their benefits 180 days before their discharge.
“If they do it while they’re on duty, they’re already doing their physicals, they’re already getting screened, they’re already doing all those things,” Bowen said. “So it would be a lot easier for them to transfer with health insurance and their VA disability in hand.”
Carey also encouraged veterans to sign up for benefits.
“It doesn’t matter how long they haven’t received them. They should always check in,” Carey said. “I mean, Jiggs hasn’t received his benefits in almost eight decades.”
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