Thread: Vet Denied SS Benefits . . . Not A Citizen?

Six Questions: Vet denied Social Security benefits

Posted: Nov 20, 2008 03:54 PM PST


SPOKANE, Wash. - He was born in Germany to an American soldier and a German mother at the end of World War II and moved to the United States before his first birthday.

It is here where Johnny Marple has lived and worked for the last 60-plus years.

Now ready to retire, Marple has discovered a troubling problem: He can't collect Social Security because he is not considered a U.S. citizen. This despite the fact he was drafted into the U.S. Army, served our country during the Vietnam War and was honorably discharged.

Marple has a Social Security number and has paid into the system for the past 40 years after working in the newspaper industry, but now, he's facing a financial crisis.

There's a video at the link.

http://www.khq.com/Global/story.asp?S=9 ... =menu438_2

He served his country and paid his taxes for 60 years!This is wrong give the man what he has earned.

Sounds like his American parent never filled out the paper work for him.
He should be able to get his citizenship papers simply by filling out a million forms.
He may also check with the German consule and see if they have his birth recorded, it may show him as American.

If his birth records show him being born on a US Military instillation even if it is in another country, isn't he still considered a US Citizen, even if his mother was from a foreign country?

This to me, even if his mother was German, his father was an American, and he did serve in the US Army in war that was owned and operated by the CIA, so he should at least get some kind of aknowledgement for his time.

But if he was born off the base in a civilian hospitol, then yes it could be a problem. His parents should have done this when he was still a child, filling out the proper paperwork for his citizenship, to save him the trouble he now faces. This is a good example too that the government isn't in the business of helping people to make sure things are right.

It sounds quaint, but I remember one "M*A*S*H program dealing with the fact the the United States was one of the few "advanced nations" which did not automatically grant its national citizenship to children born to U.S. soldiers (then primarily fathers) in service abroad when the other parent was not a U.S. citizen. (Germany was cited as a nation which did.)

It certainly is infuriating that this gentleman is being treated in this way when South Korean citizens now can arrange to fly to a hospital in Guam and produce an "instant U.S. citizen baby"!

He should have said No Hablo and they would have forked over the benefits asap.

W