So my mom gave me her brother's paperwork

from his years in the Army during WW II. I got his induction papers, his DD 214, and his final dismissal from the service signed by President Truman (ok that is what autopens are for). But what really struck my mind was the letter from the VA. He qualified, with no muss, no fuss, for the GI Bill, for his initial year of studies with... a copy of his terminal leave. He needed to present his DD-214 for the other three years. But as he got his terminal leave he was able to start college.

Fast forward three generations or more of vets. My husband had to go back and forth with the VA to get his services disabilities approved. It took a while. We all know the back up in the VA. I am thinking of writing a nice long letter to my Senator, and remind her that the VA used not to be such a complex place for vets to navigate. My only problem is how to copy that document without doing much damage to it. Let's just say they are not in the best of shape.

Yes, in this case I intend to send a snail mail letter. So I will have to go to the rare documents collection and see about how to do that without doing further damage. I know xerox copies do a lot of damage. So I might just take a photo. That is the least damaging procedure for the document. Mom also said she had a medal (likely his good conduct medal), and that she will give that to me. In her opinion both my husband (a vet) and I would appreciate it the most.

Oh and I also got his dress Class As belt. The things that one finds while cleaning house.