B-161755, DEC. 20, 1967
Highlights
BOND: REFERENCE IS MADE TO YOUR LETTER DATED NOVEMBER 7. REQUESTING THAT OUR OFFICE DO WHATEVER IS NECESSARY TO PAY YOU FOR THE WAR BONDS YOU CLAIM TO HAVE PURCHASED INCIDENT TO YOUR SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY DURING WORLD WAR I. WAS TRANSMITTED TO OUR CLAIMS DIVISION FOR NECESSARY ACTION BY THE MILITARY PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER. THE TRANSCRIPT OF YOUR PAY SHOWS DEDUCTIONS WERE MADE ON ACCOUNT OF INSURANCE OF $3.25 PER MONTH FROM MARCH 1918. NOR DOES IT OTHERWISE INDICATE THAT THE DEDUCTIONS SHOWN WERE FOR SUCH PURCHASES. THE SETTLEMENT STATED THAT AN EXAMINATION OF THE TRANSCRIPT OF YOUR PAY RECORD SHOWED THAT BOND DEDUCTIONS OF $15 PER MONTH WERE MADE FROM JANUARY THROUGH NOVEMBER.
B-161755, DEC. 20, 1967
TO MR. ELBERT T. BOND:
REFERENCE IS MADE TO YOUR LETTER DATED NOVEMBER 7, 1967, REQUESTING THAT OUR OFFICE DO WHATEVER IS NECESSARY TO PAY YOU FOR THE WAR BONDS YOU CLAIM TO HAVE PURCHASED INCIDENT TO YOUR SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY DURING WORLD WAR I.
OUR RECORDS SHOW THAT ON MAY 1, 1963, YOU REQUESTED INFORMATION FROM THE ADJUTANT GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, RELATIVE TO TWO $50 LIBERTY LOAN BONDS WHICH YOU STATED YOU "CASHED IN" IN 1918. THE LETTER, TOGETHER WITH A TRANSCRIPT OF YOUR PAY RECORD FOR THE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 1, 1918, THROUGH DATE OF DISCHARGE, JULY 17, 1919, WAS TRANSMITTED TO OUR CLAIMS DIVISION FOR NECESSARY ACTION BY THE MILITARY PERSONNEL RECORDS CENTER, GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. THE TRANSCRIPT OF YOUR PAY SHOWS DEDUCTIONS WERE MADE ON ACCOUNT OF INSURANCE OF $3.25 PER MONTH FROM MARCH 1918, THROUGH JUNE 1919, A CLASS "B" ALLOTMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $15 A MONTH FROM JANUARY THROUGH NOVEMBER 1918 AND A CLASS "E" ALLOTMENT OF $15 FOR DECEMBER, 1918. HOWEVER, THE TRANSCRIPT DOES NOT SHOW ANY DEDUCTIONS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNATED AS LIBERTY LOAN BOND ALLOTMENTS, NOR DOES IT OTHERWISE INDICATE THAT THE DEDUCTIONS SHOWN WERE FOR SUCH PURCHASES.
OUR CLAIMS DIVISION DISALLOWED YOUR CLAIM BY SETTLEMENT DATED JULY 2, 1963. THE SETTLEMENT STATED THAT AN EXAMINATION OF THE TRANSCRIPT OF YOUR PAY RECORD SHOWED THAT BOND DEDUCTIONS OF $15 PER MONTH WERE MADE FROM JANUARY THROUGH NOVEMBER, 1918. YOU WERE ADVISED, HOWEVER, THAT SINCE YOU HAD FAILED TO PRESENT A CLAIM FOR THE TWO LIBERTY LOAN BONDS BELIEVED DUE FOR OVER 46 YEARS DURING WHICH PERIOD THE RECORDS NECESSARY EITHER TO JUSTIFY OR REFUTE YOUR CLAIM HAD BEEN DESTROYED OR BECAME UNAVAILABLE AND IN THE ABSENCE OF CLEAR AND SATISFACTORY EVIDENCE OF THE VALIDITY AND NONPAYMENT OF THE CLAIM, FAVORABLE CONSIDERATION MAY NOT BE GIVEN YOUR CLAIM.
BY LETTER DATED JULY 6, 1966, YOU REQUESTED INFORMATION ABOUT THE DISPOSITION OF YOUR CLAIM FOR THE TWO $50 BONDS. IN REPLY DATED AUGUST 17, 1966, OUR CLAIMS DIVISION ENCLOSED A COPY OF THE SETTLEMENT CERTIFICATE DATED JULY 2, 1963.
THE WAR DEPARTMENT REGULATIONS IN EFFECT DURING 1918 PROVIDED FOR VOLUNTARY CLASS "E" ALLOTMENTS BY MILITARY PERSONNEL FOR THE PURCHASE OF GOVERNMENT BONDS, THEN CLASSIFIED AS "LIBERTY LOAN BONDS.' AT THAT TIME, THE GOVERNMENT WAS OFFERING THE 2D AND 3D SERIES LIBERTY LOAN BONDS AND THE REGULATIONS PROVIDED FOR THE PERIODIC PURCHASES OF SUCH BONDS BY MILITARY PERSONNEL IN MONTHLY DEDUCTIONS IN MULTIPLES OF $5 FOR 9 MONTHS AND $4.75 FOR ONE MONTH, TO PURCHASE A $50 BOND. THE REGULATIONS PROVIDED FURTHER THAT THE ALLOTMENT WAS TO BE SHOWN ON THE PAY RECORDS AS ,2D SERIES - LIBERTY LOAN BONDS"OR "3D SERIES - LIBERTY LOAN BONDS" AS THE CASE MAY BE.
A REEXAMINATION OF THE TRANSCRIPT OF YOUR PAY RECORD FOR THE PERIOD FROM JANUARY 1, 1918, THROUGH JULY 17, 1919, SHOWS THAT THE CLASS "B" ALLOTMENT OF $15 PER MONTH, WHICH WAS DEDUCTED FROM YOUR PAY FROM JANUARY THROUGH NOVEMBER, 1918, WAS THE ALLOTMENT WHICH YOU WERE REQUIRED TO MAKE IN FAVOR OF A DESIGNATED DEPENDENT, SUCH AS A PARENT, BROTHER OR SISTER, IN ORDER THAT THE DESIGNATED DEPENDENT RECEIVE A MONTHLY FAMILY ALLOWANCE FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND NOT A BOND ALLOTMENT AS STATED IN OUR CLAIMS DIVISION SETTLEMENT DATED JULY 2, 1963. THIS IMPROPER DESIGNATION OF THE ALLOTMENT AS A BOND ALLOTMENT HAS APPARENTLY LED TO THE CONFUSION IN THE MATTER. FOUND NO EVIDENCE IN THE TRANSCRIPT OF YOUR PAY RECORD THAT ANY PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS FOR THE PURCHASE OF LIBERTY LOAN BONDS WERE MADE FROM YOUR PAY IN 1918.
IT IS REGRETTED THAT YOU WERE IMPROPERLY ADVISED IN THE SETTLEMENT CERTIFICATE OF JULY 2, 1963, WHICH DISALLOWED YOUR CLAIM, THAT THE $15 ALLOTMENT SHOWN IN THE TRANSCRIPT WAS A BOND ALLOTMENT. HOWEVER, EVEN IF YOU HAD AUTHORIZED AN ALLOTMENT FOR THE PURCHASE OF BONDS THROUGH THE PAYROLL DEDUCTION PLAN, OR HAD OTHERWISE PURCHASED LIBERTY LOAN BONDS WHILE YOU WERE IN THE ARMY IN 1918, THERE ARE NO RECORDS NOW AVAILABLE TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT YOU RECEIVED SUCH BONDS, OR IF RECEIVED, LATER REDEEMED THEM. THE CLAIMS DIVISION WAS THEREFORE CORRECT IN CONCLUDING THAT FAVORABLE CONSIDERATION MAY NOT PROPERLY BE GIVEN YOUR CLAIM AT THIS LATE DATE.