Joseph Sabino Mistick: On Memorial Day, honor all by providing care for all - TribLIVE

Since just after the Civil War, Americans have set aside one day to honor the men and women who died while serving in the military. As our country fought new wars, newly fallen soldiers were added to the day of remembrance, starting with World War I and then World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

When Union Gen. John A. Logan ordered that May 30, 1868, would be the first Decoration Day, now Memorial Day, he declared it was “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country.”

That is all that we can do for them now. And nothing good can be said about any nation that does not do the same. But while we have tried to do right by seriously injured war veterans and those who love them, we very frequently let them down.

The Veterans Affairs Family Caregiver Assistance Program is one example of a program that misses the mark. The goal is to make it possible for families to care for their injured veterans at home, instead of having them live in institutions.

Korea and Vietnam war veterans were left out of the program originally, but the VA MISSION Act of 2018 was intended to correct that and give them the same family care opportunities post-9/11 veterans receive.

But that act is now mired in bureaucratic muck. After two years of delays, the VA has just produced 56 pages of new regulations that will only add more delay.

As Rick Weidman, with Vietnam Veterans of America, told NPR last week, “Delay, deny, until they die. It shouldn’t have been this complicated.”

And the pandemic has made things even more complicated. The coronavirus continues to decimate the populations of nursing homes and personal care facilities. Because of the VA’s delays in supporting home care for all, injured Korea and Vietnam veterans have no options.

It seems these older veterans are still battling the old politics of the wars in which they fought. That must stop. The Korean War is still often called “the forgotten war,” even though nearly 37,000 Americans were killed in action and over 100,000 were wounded. And the Vietnam War, hotly debated even now, ended with over 58,000 American soldiers killed in action and more than 150,000 wounded.

The Americans who stepped up and fought those wars are the same as all the others. They shed the same blood, suffered the same wounds and fought for the same America. We have to make sure they are treated the same as all of our veterans.

The pandemic of 2020 has created an urgency to correct this unfairness, because it renews our focus on this as a matter of life or death. But it has also created the opportunity to make it right, because the president of the United States has national emergency powers during a pandemic that make this easy.

With the stroke of his pen or by picking up the phone, the president could get these veterans and their caregivers and families the help they deserve. And that would make this a Memorial Day to remember.

Joseph Sabino Mistick is a Pittsburgh lawyer. Reach him at misticklaw@gmail.com.

Categories: Joseph Sabino Mistick Columns | Opinion