WWII veteran encourages others to use VA benefits after going decades without his own

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - After nearly eight decades since leaving the U.S. Army, 103-year-old World War II veteran Louis Gigliotti is finally cashing in his Veteran Affairs benefits, after his caregiver discovered that he was using his own money to pay for his medical expenses.

“He knew he served and he knew he was a veteran, so he would go to the Veterans Hospital,” Melanie Carey, Gigliotti’s niece-in-law and his caregiver, said. “I don’t think he knew that entails benefits through that.”

Carey recently began caring for her uncle-in-law — known as “Jiggs” — after he suffered two strokes; one in 2023 and another this year.

That’s when she said she discovered his medical bills.

“[I] noticed that he was getting VA invoices and same thing with his medical bills,” Carey said. “He was getting those, and it didn’t make any sense why he was still paying for it.”

Carey said she reached out to Veterans Affairs, where the organization began processing Gigliotti’s paperwork and enrolling him in the VA Health Care system.

“This was the first time he had filed for benefits, and that’s pretty wild, being 103,” Verdie Bowen, the Director of the Office of Veteran Affairs, said. “He had told us that the reason why he had waited so long is because he had more than enough money to cover his care. And now he was running out of money.”

As a caregiver, Carey said the money has been helping substantially and ensures Gigliotti can get the care he needs.

“Now, I don’t have to worry about finding a doctor to find equipment for him,” Carey said. “Everything — I just make a call to the Veterans Hospital and they get everything set up for him.”

Hearing the news about Gigliotti, Bowen said it was surprising. Bowen added that there are thousands of veterans, just like Gigliotti, who still have not received their veteran benefits.

Just in Alaska alone, that number is around 35,000, according to Bowen.

“We don’t want our veterans to pull their last dollar out of savings when that injury was incurred in the service. And the service is responsible for caring for that,” Bowen said.

Bowen says he encourages all veterans to apply for their VA benefits. He said that active duty members can apply for their benefits 180 days prior to being discharged.

“If they do it while they’re in the service, they’re already doing their physicals, they’re already processing out, they’re already doing all of that stuff,” Bowen said. “So that it would be much easier for them to crossover with healthcare in hand and their VA disability in hand.”

Carey also encouraged veterans to sign up for the benefits.

“It doesn’t matter how long [they] haven’t received them. They should always sign up,” Carey said. “I mean, Jiggs has been almost eight decades since he’s gotten his benefits.”

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