WWII Vet Who Fought For Benefits Passes

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

For Millard Sells the longest battle was not in Iwo Jima, where he served in World War II, but back home in the United States where he fought for more than two decades to get the benefits he was entitled to as a U.S. Marine combat veteran.
Sells, 93, was laid to rest today in Pickett County even as the battle for a few last benefits continues toward a final chapter.
His attorney, John Cameron, said some additional benefits, would likely go to his widow Christine.
It was five years ago, after a 19-year struggle, that Veteran s Administration officials, with prodding from a federal judge, finally granted Sells a 100 per cent disability based on his service injuries.
Alice, Sells daughter,said her father died at the VA Hospital in Nashville on Sunday where he was being treated for pneumonia. She said he had struggled in his final weeks but was unable to overcome the pneumonia.
"Dad has had previous emergency admissions due to aspirations/pneumonia but this was much worse," she said.
"He died very peacefully and was told everyday how much he was loved and what a good husband and father he is. He was still a proud Marine," she added.
At memorial services in Byrdstown today his widow was presented with a flag by a U.S. Marine representative.
Sells said her father had grown tired of the long battle for benefits, but with the aid of Cameron, an Alabama attorney specializing in veterans issues, the battle continued.
Court records show Sells and Cameron were bounced back and forth between an agency board and a federal courtroom to get answers from the VA. Those battles began with the VA's regional office in Nashville.
At one point a federal judge had to order the VA to at least respond to Sells' repeated requests for basic data on his case.
"The petitioner further asserts that he has made at least eight written requests," Judge Mary Schoelen wrote in a two-page order.
As for the source of his physical injuries and post traumatic stress, Sells recalled in a 2014 interview his service in the Pacific
Once the 5th Marines Division had landed on Iwo Jima in February 1945, Sells said that his commander ordered him and four other Marines to act as scouts.
"There was extreme fire, and we got caught behind enemy lines. Three didn't come back," Sells said. He suffered additional service injuries after the battle before returning to the mainland.
As for the battle for benefits Sells said the VA kept claiming he had missed a deadline or hadn't filed a claim at all. He first sought benefits in 1995 when he had to give up a job as a school bus driver due to persistent pain.
"They'd claim they never got it," Sells said, adding that he always sent his appeals by registered mail. Records in the case show VA officials also repeatedly questioned the extent of Sells' disabilities.
Cameron said the belated award of a 100 per cent disability, which came just before Sells 88th birthday, still didn't provide full benefits back to the time of his original 1995 claim. He said his widow also could receive additional benefits based on the cause of his death.