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Veterans' Services - Eligible Veterans - Massachusetts

In order to be eligible to receive Veterans' Services, the following standards must be met. These are defined in Massachusetts General Law Chapter 4, Section 7, Clause 43.

General Requirements

To be a "veteran" under Massachusetts law a person is required to have served in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard of the United States for either:

·      180 days of regular active duty service with a last discharge or release under honorable conditions - OR -

·      90 days of active duty service, one day of which is during "wartime" per the chart which follows, with a last discharge or release under honorable conditions, except for Vietnam I which requires 180 days of active duty service.

NOTE: You can view a chart showing wartime and peacetime periods from within the WorkWORLD Help/Information system (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Click this link to see the Massachusetts Veteran Eligibility Chart. Click your Back Button to return here.

The most recent version of the chart is also available on the Internet at:
http://www.mass.gov/Eveterans/docs/wartime_chart.pdf

Guard Members

For Guard Members to qualify they must have either:

·      180 days and have been activated under Title 10 of the U.S. Code and a last discharge or release under honorable conditions - OR -

·      Members who were activated under Title 10 or Tile 32 of the U.S. Code of Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 33, sections 38, 40, and 41 must have 90 days, at least one of which was during wartime, per the chart above. The members' last discharge or release must be under honorable conditions.

Reservists

For Reservists to qualify, they must have been called to regular active duty, at which point their eligibility can be determined by the chart above.

Minimum service exception (for death or disability)

It is not necessary that an applicant have completed the minimum service for wartime or peacetime campaign if she or he served some time in the campaign and was awarded the Purple Heart, or suffered a service-connected disability, or died in the service under honorable conditions.

Training duty exception

Active service in the armed forces as used in this clause does not include active duty for training in the Army or Air National Guard, or active duty for training as a Reservist in the armed forces of the United States.

Merchant Marine

Any Merchant Marine who served for a period of 90 days in armed conflict between December 7, 1941 and December 31, 1946, and who received an honorable discharge from the Army, Navy, or Coast Guard of the United States is considered a veteran.

Eligible dependents

The following categories of persons may qualify as dependents eligible to receive veterans' benefits:

·      Spouse of the veteran;

·      Widow or widower of the veteran;

·      Dependent parent of the veteran;

·      Any person who acted as a parent to the veteran for five years immediately preceding the commencement of the veteran’s wartime service;

·      Child of the veteran until his or her 19th birthday;

·      Child of the veteran between 19 years and 23 years of age while the child is attending high school, an institution of higher learning or some other accredited educational institution;

·      Child of the veteran 19 years of age or older who is mentally or physically unable to support him or herself and was affected by the disability prior to his or her 18th birthday;

·      Legally adopted children of the veteran.

Who is not eligible?

None of the following are considered to be a veteran:

·      Any person, who at the time of entering into the armed forces of the United States, had his or her intention to become a subject or citizen of the United States and withdrew his or her intention under the provisions of the act of Congress approved July 9, 1918;

·      Any person who was discharged from the said armed forces on his or her own application or solicitation by reason of his or her being an enemy alien;

·      Any person who has been proved guilty of willful desertion;

·      Any person whose only service in the armed forces of the United States consists of his or her service as a member of the Coast Guard auxiliary or as a temporary member of the Coast Guard Reserve, or both;

·      Any person whose last discharge or release from the armed forces is dishonorable or other than honorable.

Also see:

Veterans' Services - Overview - Massachusetts

Veterans' Services - Veterans' Rights - Massachusetts

Veterans' Services - Local Veterans' Agents - Massachusetts

Source

Information for this topic was drawn from the Secretary of the Commonwealth's website at:
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cisvet/vetdefin.htm

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