Veterans ride to rescue of 95-year-old woman who served in WWII

Irene Miller didn’t think she was doing anything wrong by continuing to receive $22 a month from her husband’s military service fund after he died in 1994.

“He was getting a pension of $67.05 every three months. So they gave that to me, and I didn’t report it because I didn’t think it was important,” the 95-year-old Miller said Thursday, sitting in a motorized wheelchair outside her apartment at a Las Vegas retirement complex on East Tropicana Avenue.

But the Veterans Benefits Administration saw things differently, concluding that Miller, herself a World War II-era Navy veteran, was not entitled to the stipend and had failed to report it as income. It asked Veterans Affairs debt collectors to recoup it in October after stopping her VA pension.

That left the Miller in a bad spot. The VA said it would cost $26,000 to repay the money, and without her VA pension, “I couldn’t even pay my rent or my bills,” she said.

‘I DON’T WANT TO MOVE’

Facing eviction and in danger of becoming another homeless veteran, Miller seemed to have few options. Apart from her chihuahua Penny, her closest relative is a daughter who lives in Australia, Stacey Albertz.

“She told me if I wanted to move she’d pay some moving costs,” Miller said. “But I don’t want to move. It’s too much work.”

It seemed destined to be a sad outcome for a woman who was a “Rosie the Riveter” — the cultural icon representing American women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II. In Miller’s case, that meant soldering parts on P-38 Lightnings at a Burbank, California, aircraft plant in the early 1940s and later joining the Navy WAVES — Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service — and working as a recruiter.

Miller, a native of Kansas, admits that the pension problem “was my fault.” But she said she had a lot on her mind after the death of her husband, Army Air Corps veteran William Miller, in 1994.

They had just endured an earthquake that damaged their home in Santa Monica that persuaded them to move to Southern Nevada. Then William Miller suffered a stroke and died soon after they settled in.

The paperwork for reporting his death wasn’t a priority at the time, and she also didn’t pay much attention to the VA pension checks that kept trickling in over the next 22 years, since she was entitled to a VA pension herself.

Meanwhile, she said she worked as a card dealer at casinos in Laughlin and Las Vegas to supplement the checks.

‘EVERYBODY STARTED CALLING’

She doesn’t know who alerted KSNV, Channel 3, to her plight, but after the station reported on her situation last weekend calls for help spread quickly on social media in the veterans community.

“Everybody started calling to help me. It was all veterans,” she said, adding that “the bicycle group, they raised over $2,000 on Saturday,” referring to veterans biker groups like the Infidels Motorcyle Club.

Among the first responders were Gulf War Marine veteran Mike Edwards, president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, and his wife, Stacey Frongillo.

They helped her wade through confusing VA paperwork to try and get her issue straightened out. “I have a college degree, and I couldn’t understand it,” Edwards said.

Then they conversed by phone with VA benefits officials in Reno. That led to rejoicing this week when they learned that the VA Committee on Waivers had granted Miller complete forgiveness of her debt.

Officials in the Veterans Benefits Administration’s regional office in Reno released a statement Tuesday saying they were bound by privacy issues not to discuss Miller’s case, “however we are glad this issue came to our attention as it provided an opportunity to serve our veterans in need. As a result, this particular issue has been resolved and will have no negative financial impact on the veteran.”

Edwards said Friday he doesn’t understand why the overpayments totaled $26,000 when calculations show that $22 per month in additional income from her husband’s pension only comes to $5,808.

Miller said she is delighted that she again will start receiving her monthly VA benefits of $1,788, and is grateful for the help she received from Edwards and the other veterans. She said between the pension and her Social Security check she will have at least a little money left over after she pays her $2,194 monthly rent.

KEEPING AN EYE ON IRENE

Edwards, 46, said he will check Monday to make sure the VA reinstated her pension. In the meantime, he has raised about $5,000 with help from veterans motorcycle clubs and donations from 70 people who have contributed to a fund for Miller at youcaring.com.

He will use that money on Monday to pay her rent for October and November and put some in the bank for her. He’s also bringing dog food for Penny.

“The government did the right thing in this case, but it shouldn’t take an act of Congress,” he said. “I saw the forms they wanted her to fill out. It’s ridiculous.”

He said he also wonders about “how many Irene Millers are out there we don’t know about.”

Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2.