Disabled Army veteran Ronald Choplinksy will receive $40,000 in overdue benefits from the Veterans Administration, Stars and Stripes reports.
Choplinsky, 71, had fallen behind on his home mortgage payments. Additionally, a sheriff’s sale of an auto body shop he owns in Philadelphia was set for Wednesday as he owes roughly $40,000 in delinquent real estate taxes on the property.
The VA approved his back pay after Stars and Stripes submitted a privacy waiver to the VA media office in Washington, D.C., with a request for an interview.
“Since January 2018, his case has bounced between the Philadelphia Regional VA Office and the Appeals Management Center in D.C.,” said Sally Stenton, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and Choplinsky’s attorney. “So, in 17 months, nothing has happened until I came onto this case in March this year, and now the regional office in Philly has thrown up every conceivable road block not to pay him.”
The VA also ordered an increase in Choplinsky’s disability rating, resulting in a roughly $343 monthly increase in benefits.
Choplinsky was drafted into the Army in July 1968 and went to Fort Bragg, N.C., for basic training. He said conditions during training aggravated an existing problem with his stomach and esophagus, and he was hospitalized for a month because of the issue.
He was honorably discharged in September 1968.
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