NATION TO AGING WAR WIDOWS: SACRIFICE AGAIN.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

The Department of Veterans Affairs reached out last month to impoverished military veterans or their widows, who were asked to pick up the phone and give officials a call.

Almost $22 billion goes unpaid in pension benefits because the government can't find qualified recipients. To qualify for the money, all they have to do is be dirt-poor.

Robert Fraser of Saugus read about the program in a wire service story the Daily News published Dec. 23, and he decided to call on behalf of his 89-year-old mother-in-law, Bea Cordell.

She's living in an Oregon mobile-home park, getting by on her late husband's Social Security pension of $990 a month - $11,880 a year.

With the $200 a month she's spending for prescription drugs and medical-insurance payments, surely his mother-in-law was in line for some of that cash, Bob figured.

She wasn't. Not even close.

To be eligible for the death benefit as a surviving spouse with no dependent children - which Bea is - she had to be living on a maximum of $7,094 a year - or roughly $590 a month.

Bea could deduct a few things, such as her medical costs, to knock down her earnings, but her income still didn't come close to meeting the VA's guidelines.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Who, other than the homeless, survives on $590 a month? You can't rent a studio apartment in Van Nuys for that. Forget buying food or other necessities.

It's doubtful the government's going to have to worry about dipping into that $22 billion pot for any of its impoverished military widows - due to that cutoff at $7,094 a year.

``It's an unrealistic amount, and worse, it holds out false hope for a lot of poor widows who read the story and thought they might be eligible for a few hundred dollars more a month,'' Fraser said.

He's right. It stinks. Is this any way for the government to treat Johnny Cordell's widow?

Johnny and Bea were a couple of teenagers living in poverty in the mountains of Kentucky when the U.S. government came looking for young men to fight in World War II.

Johnny enlisted and distinguished himself early on, rising to the rank of master sergeant as a tank driver in Gen. George Patton's 3rd Army as it battled across Germany into Czechoslovakia and Austria.

He was one of those young, brave guys, standing on a tank, we saw in those black-and-white newsreels - smiling and blowing kisses home when the Germans finally surrendered.

Johnny came home to marry Bea, and they moved to Oregon to start a new life and their family. He worked in the mills the rest of his life, dying 13 years ago.

And now his widow lives alone in a mobile-home park on $990 a month - $400 a month more than the government thinks she needs to collect some of her husband's military pension.

``As a little girl, I remember Dad talking about Patton and how proud he was to have served with him,'' says his daughter, Vonda. ``My father was a humble man - a proud veteran who loved his country.''

You wonder how he would feel today watching the government he fought for turn down his widow for a few more bucks a month because she's making too much at $11,880 a year?

I called the VA on Wednesday, but officials there couldn't run away from this story fast enough. It took them all day to work on a two-sentence response that passed the buck.

``Pensions and other benefits are set legislatively by Congress,'' spokeswoman Valerie Williams said. ``VA administers the pension program within the congressionally set guidelines.''

In other words, blame Congress for shortchanging the nation's war widows, not them.

I tried reaching some of our local congressmen, but, to be fair, it was short notice. I'll give them a few more days to see if they want to respond.

Michael Briggs, press secretary for Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, did send me an e-mail saying he was unable to help on the question Wednesday, but he added, ``Please keep Brad in mind in the future, and thanks for your interest.''

Believe me, I will definitely keep Brad in mind.

In the meantime, the Frasers don't want you to feel sorry for Bea, because money isn't everything. She has many grandkids living nearby to visit her, and there's nothing more important than that, Bea says.

If her $990 a month doesn't stretch far enough, the kids chip in to make sure she gets what she needs.

It'd be nice, though, if the government set realistic income guidelines for the nation's war widows - and chipped in to help them, too.

Dennis McCarthy, [phone]

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com