My paternal grandfather was a B-25 navigator/bombardier. His plane was shot down over the Battle of the Bulge, and he spent the rest of the war in a PoW camp. The quality of the treatment (and particularly the nutrition) he received during his imprisonment compromised his health, and he died during my father's childhood.
I have no idea if he received this benefit, or if he even knew about it. Dad's dead (motorcycle accident); I'll have to reach out to my aunt to see if she knows. It's more the curiosity than the money. If he hadn't received it, and survivors can claim it, I'd just donate it to some veteran's organization, anyway.
The thing about benefits (and receiving them) is that the more people that file for them, the more paperwork it creates, and the more time until the people that deserve the benefits receive them. People applying for benefits that "do not deserve them" are partially the cause of the "delay" part of the old VA mantra "delay and deny until they die". I'm not saying it's right, or that it should be one way or another. I'm just explaining how the VA universe works.
I have no idea if he received this benefit, or if he even knew about it. Dad's dead (motorcycle accident); I'll have to reach out to my aunt to see if she knows. It's more the curiosity than the money. If he hadn't received it, and survivors can claim it, I'd just donate it to some veteran's organization, anyway.