ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A 103-year-old World War II veteran who paid his medical bills out of pocket is finally getting his veterans benefits from the U.S. government after 78 years.
According to Louis Gigliotti’s caregiver, the former U.S. Army medical technician has a Veterans Administration card, but he never realized he could use his status to access “free benefits” like health care.
Gigliotti, who goes by the nickname Jiggs, could use the help to pay for dental, hearing and vision problems as he begins his second century. He was honored last week by family, friends and patrons at the Alaska Veterans Museum in Anchorage, where he lives with his cousin’s family.
Melanie Carey, his cousin’s wife, has been Gigliotti’s caregiver for about a decade, but only recently began helping him pay his medical bills. That’s when she realized he was paying out of pocket instead of going to the VA for care. She checked with the local facility, where staff told her he had never been there before.
“Okay, let’s fix this,” she remembers telling them.
“I don’t think he realized that if you’re a veteran, there are benefits to that,” Carey said. “I try to educate him on everything you need to get fixed.”
Gigliotti grew up in an orphanage and worked on a farm in Norwalk, Connecticut. He tried to join the Army with two friends at the start of World War II, but he was medically ineligible because of his vision. Both of his friends were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, according to the Alaska National Guard.
His second attempt to join the Army was approved after the attack on the naval base in Hawaii. During the war, he served as a surgical assistant without having to go to the battlefield.
After the war, he moved to Alaska in 1955. He owned two bars in Fairbanks before moving to Anchorage 10 years later, where he worked for two decades as a bartender at Club Paris, Anchorage’s oldest steakhouse.
His passions in retirement were caring for Millie, his wife of 38 years who died of cancer in 2003, and training boxers for free in a makeshift ring in his garage.
The state Office of Veterans Affairs awarded Gigliotti the Alaska Veterans Honor Medal for securing his benefits. The medal is awarded to Alaska veterans who have served honorably in the U.S. Armed Forces, in times of peace or war.
“This event is a reminder that no matter how much time has passed since their service, it is never too late for veterans to file for their benefits,” said Verdie Bowen, the agency’s director.
Carey said Gigliotti is a modest man and had to be persuaded to attend the ceremony.
“I thought, ‘It’s really important that you do this because there aren’t many 103-year-old veterans just hanging around,’” she said.
And the reason for his longevity depends on what day you ask him, Carey said.
He has always said he never feels like he is getting old. “I just want to go more often,” he said Tuesday.
On other days, the retired bartender jokes that the secret is, “You have to have a drink every day.”