Older Potential War Disablement Pensions Applicants

A local RSA Welfare Officer told me a few weeks ago that many older people do not want to make claims for disabilities that they have. One older gentleman told me that he did not want to be bothered, as he did not believe that he would get anything. He had contacted me following my article in the February Review on skin cancers. He has skin cancers and served in the fleet in the Pacific. I have to ask why he and others should not make claims.

If you have a disability that you believe can be related back to war service, you have the right to ask whether that connection can be researched and then if that link is made to receive compensation as an entitlement. War Disablement Pensions should never be considered as anything but an entitlement for injuries sustained due to service. It may be that the injury has not shown itself for some years after the service finished, but that should not stop anyone from making a claim.

Those who were in J-Force should take this same advice. Information from VANZ and reiterated by the Prime Minister show that very few of the 12,000 service personnel who went to Japan after World War II have made claims for War Disablement Pensions.