[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20259-20260]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             PRIVATE RELIEF BILL FOR FRANCES SCHOCHENMAIER

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, on September 28, 2000, the United 
States Senate unanimously approved legislation to provide private 
relief for Frances Schochenmaier of Bonesteel, South Dakota. Frances' 
case clearly warrants action by the United States Congress to correct 
an injustice inflicted upon her family over 50 years ago. I am pleased 
that the Senate has taken this important step by passing the Private 
Relief Bill for Frances Schochenmaier, which I was proud to have 
introduced and was cosponsored by my friend and colleague from South 
Dakota Senator Tom Daschle. I will continue to work diligently with 
Members of the House of Representatives to ensure the legislation is 
passed before the end of this Congressional session and signed by the 
President.
  Frances' husband, Hermann Schochenmaier, was one of the thousands of 
young men who valiantly answered his country's call to duty during 
World War II. While serving in Europe, Hermann was wounded--shot in the 
arm in what medical personnel referred to as a through-and-through'' 
wound. Upon returning home, the Department of Veterans Affairs awarded 
Hermann a 10 percent disability rating. For 50 years, Hermann received 
disability compensation for the injury he received during his service 
in the United States military. Then, in 1995, the Department of 
Veterans Affairs acknowledged that it was ``clearly and

[[Page 20260]]

unmistakably erroneous'' in rating Hermann's injury too low. Instead of 
a 10 percent rating, Hermann's injuries during World War II were 
consistent with a 30 percent disability rating.
  Over these 50 years, Hermann received approximately $10,000, when he 
should have actually received closer to $70,000. Unfortunately, only 
one week prior to the Department of Veterans Affairs correcting this 
problem, Hermann Schochenmaier passed away. To further complicate 
matters, the Department of Veterans Affairs refused to give Hermann's 
family the disability benefits he rightfully earned.
  For the past five years, I have worked with Frances to exhaust every 
avenue within the Department of Veterans Affairs. The answer was always 
the same: the law does not allow for veterans' widows to receive these 
lost benefits. So, I decided that it must take an act of Congress--
literally--to ensure that a veteran's widow from Bonesteel received the 
benefits her husband earned, but was denied from receiving in his 
lifetime.
  Thanks to the perseverance from members of my office, the continued 
faith of Frances and her family, and some bipartisanship among members 
of Congress, we were able to pass this important legislation in the 
Senate and put it on a track to be signed into law by the President 
before the end of this year.
  My wife, Barbara, and I are parents of a son who serves our country 
in the Army, and we know the sacrifices families make when their loved-
ones travel overseas in the military. I am sorry that fate denied 
Hermann the opportunity to see justice done with the correction of his 
disability rating. I am thankful that fate and old-fashioned elbow-
grease over these past five years has given our country the opportunity 
to make things right with Frances and the Schochenmaier family.

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