Smoked by VA

[unhappycamper]

http://kdhnews.com/military/smoked-by-va/article_a20eb976-3bcb-11e4-a636-0017a43b2370.html



Henriette Hite, seen in her home Thursday with a photo of her late husband, Jacky Hite, looks over a large binder of Veterans Affairs documents she's collected in a nearly 30-year fight to get her husband's COPD classified as service-connected.

Smoked by VA
Posted: Sunday, September 14, 2014 4:30 am
Rose L Thayer | Herald staff writer

Henriette Hite spent 44 years married to Jacky Hite, but she jokes he had another relationship going on — he was married to the Army.

The two met while he was stationed in Germany, and talking about him brings a wide smile to her face.

Jacky Hite spent 20 years in the Army as a mechanic, retiring in May 1979. After time in Germany, the couple settled down in Killeen, but the veteran became increasing ill — succumbing to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2009.

Nearly five years after his death, his widow said she doesn’t feel his service was properly recognized. Veterans Affairs denied the illness that killed him was service-connected, and an appeal is on hold, prolonging a battle that began in 1985.