There are numbers tacked to a wall near Robert Montague’s desk.
There are numbers tacked to a wall near Robert Montague’s desk.
“3,009,” one reads — that’s the number of veterans assisted over the years here at Veterans Service Office in Hilo, where Montague, 88, volunteers.
“267,” is printed on the second — the number of veterans who’ve been successfully awarded 100 percent disability benefits.
“2,389” another says, which represents the number of claims currently being processed.
The notes are meaningful to Montague and other volunteers: They represent thousands of local veterans he and other volunteers at the office have helped successfully navigate the complex VA claims process.
The office is a joint, volunteer-run effort led by the local Korean War Veteran’s Association and VFW Post 3875. It’s designed to help isle veterans successfully file claims to receive disability compensation.
Montague has volunteered at the office for 17 years. He’s a U.S. Army veteran who joined the service at age 21 as a recruit. His service spanned 22 years and included a tour in Korea and three tours in Vietnam.
He retired from the Army in 1971 as a lieutenant colonel. Now, Montague said he views volunteering as his way of paying it forward.
“The Army was good to me,” Montague said last week, seated at his desk in the office when the Tribune-Herald approached him for an interview. “And I figured I should be giving something back to help veterans.”
Hawaii Island is home to more than 15,000 veterans. And yet volunteers at the office say many are unaware of the Veterans Service Office. Advertising is all by word-of-mouth, largely through local veterans organizations.
The office aims to help any veteran, regardless of whether a person is affiliated with the VFW or Korean War Veterans Association. It’s designed to help those with an array of disabilities — hearing loss, diabetes, heart conditions, PTSD and major depression to name a few.
Filing a claim can be a convoluted process, Montague added, and winning a claim can also be tricky.
“The big problem is, there isn’t probably one in 50 veterans who knows how to write a claim and (navigate) the process and paperwork of it,” Montague said. “So that’s where we come in.”
“You can sit down a veteran who has PTSD ( for example) and write up a claim and send it in, and they’ll deny it and kick it back,” he continued. “We don’t do that. We sit down and figure out what a person’s disabilities are and then we develop the evidence to support that disability. Then, we send it in … We help anybody and everybody.”
Montague moved to East Hawaii in 1969 to serve as a commander at the Kilauea Military Camp. He eventually married and has remained ever since.
He’s a member of both the Korean War Veterans Association and the VFW. But these days, he isn’t able to participate in as many events as he’d like. He was exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam and is now battling chronic lymphocytic leukemia. As a result, his immune system is weaker and he refrains from large public events on recommendation of his physician.
But he continues volunteering — he says helping people in need makes its well worth it. He’s quick to describe veterans he’s helped over the years — some with serious disabilities — and are now receiving full benefits which have “turned their life around.”
“He’s a valuable resource on this island,” said Rankin Gossert, of VFW Post 3875. “We have a lot of referrals from different people on the island and his name always comes up. “He’s a very knowledgeable man. He gets it and knows exactly what needs to be done.”
“I got into this by chance,” added Alan Hiraoka, a volunteer working Wednesday with Montague. “I’d gotten out of the military, and came back here and met up with Bob. After seeing what he does, it was exactly what I wanted to do.
“It puts purpose into our day-to-day lives and we know that we’re helping someone, especially some who are in dire shape and having a difficult time. So we just try to help them make their lives a little better … It kind of goes back to taking care of our soldiers and not leaving anyone behind. And Bob is awesome. He is a book. He has all the information right here.”
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.