An 89-year-old World War II veteran bought six bullets from a Greenville SC pawnshop on Thursday before fatally shooting himself outside the Augusta Rd. Veterans Clinic. Grover Cleveland Chapman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head said Greenville County Chief Deputy Coroner Mike Ellis. Chapman told his family, "No matter what I apply for at the VA, they turn me down," his daughter recalled. The next day, the World War II veteran took his own life outside the Clinic.
Harriett Chapman sees her father's April 24 death as his way of sending a message about medical care at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Mr. Chapman had recently lost two battles in a continuous struggle to claim medical benefits. "He felt like the VA turned its back on him and a lot of other veterans," Harriett Chapman said.
He learned in a phone call on the Wednesday before his death that he was going to have to travel to Columbia SC for medical tests, although he had been hoping for a waiver that would have allowed him to get the test done closer to home. More bad news came hours later when he received a letter saying he'd been denied disability. Grover Cleveland Chapman had the letter with him when he shot himself.
The “VA excuse makers” are saying that at 89 Mr. Chapman was probably senile or unstable. If that were true then it is a medical condition that they should have been aware of and provided treatment. But, knowing how the VA treats veterans with total distain and arrogance, most likely he was just tired of the bureaucratic red tape and abuse.
This is another case of a Veteran being treated by a dysfunctional bureaucracy that is incapable of serving our Veterans or changing for the better.
