Jon Guttman,
Did the Veterans Administration ever compensate veterans who were exposed to poison gas and other chemical weapons during World War 1?
How many soldiers who were exposed to these chemical weapons received disability ratings and compensation?
Thank you,
Larry Or Bob
? ? ?
Dear Larry or Bob,
There was no Veterans Administration in the immediate wake of World War I. Instead there were three agencies, the Veterans Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department and the National Home for Disabled Veterans. These would be amalgamated into the VA in 1930. Extra compensation to surviving victims of chemical warfare usually took the form of paid-for care for cases of pneumonia or tuberculosis that the authorities judged traceable to a patient’s having previously been gassed during the war (see attached study by the Army below).
http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/VolXIV/VolXIVhtml/CH08.htm
Sincerely,
Jon Guttman
Research Director
World History Group
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