Veterans dept. says ex-marine owes nearly $4,000
• But Carl Diekman, who served on Iwo Jima, doesn't agree.
By Jim Holt
Signal Senior Writer
jholt@the-signal.com
661-259-1234 x527
Posted: April 28, 2008 2:14 a.m.
Updated: April 28, 2008 4:55 a.m.
Picture in your mind the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photograph of the Second World War.
One of the proudest moments in American history - five brave U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy serviceman working together to erect the Stars & Stripes atop a strategic island in the West Pacific Ocean.
Now subtract one of those six flag bearers from that mental snapshot.
Unthinkable.
Yet, for a Canyon Country family of a World War II veteran, that's exactly what the Department of Veterans Affairs did when it cut off veterans checks to a highly-decorated U.S. Marine who served in Iwo Jima that flag-raising day.
Retired Staff Sergeant Carl Diekman of the U.S. Marines 5th Division was one of 110,000 Marines on one of 880 vessels sent to Iwo Jima in the closing months of the Second World War.
Cutting him out of his monthly VA check this year was like cutting a Marine out of the famous Iwo Jima photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal more than a half century ago.
• But Carl Diekman, who served on Iwo Jima, doesn't agree.
By Jim Holt
Signal Senior Writer
jholt@the-signal.com
661-259-1234 x527
Posted: April 28, 2008 2:14 a.m.
Updated: April 28, 2008 4:55 a.m.
Picture in your mind the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising photograph of the Second World War.
One of the proudest moments in American history - five brave U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy serviceman working together to erect the Stars & Stripes atop a strategic island in the West Pacific Ocean.
Now subtract one of those six flag bearers from that mental snapshot.
Unthinkable.
Yet, for a Canyon Country family of a World War II veteran, that's exactly what the Department of Veterans Affairs did when it cut off veterans checks to a highly-decorated U.S. Marine who served in Iwo Jima that flag-raising day.
Retired Staff Sergeant Carl Diekman of the U.S. Marines 5th Division was one of 110,000 Marines on one of 880 vessels sent to Iwo Jima in the closing months of the Second World War.
Cutting him out of his monthly VA check this year was like cutting a Marine out of the famous Iwo Jima photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal more than a half century ago.
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