Abraham Lincoln once wrote “Honor to the Soldier, and Sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor also to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field, and serves, as he best can, the same cause.”

As a U.S. Navy veteran myself, I like to think Honest Abe would be proud to see how the federal government, through the Legal Services Corporation, today is recognizing its obligations to former soldiers who have claims pending before the Veterans Administration. And how it is doing so by rallying private citizen lawyers to offer their services for free.

The VA was established in 1930 to ensure that the service of our men and women in uniform would always be honored and their sacrifices never forgotten. Congress created the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims some 58 years later to provide a way for retired soldiers and family members to present claims for disability pensions and survivor benefits denied to them by the VA.

By 1992, it was clear that many veterans with strong cases were not having their claims fully and fairly heard because they couldn’t afford competent representation in VA proceedings; more than 80 percent of all claimants were proceeding pro se. So with support from Congress and LSC, several veterans organizations came together to create the Veterans Consortium—a unique pro bono program that offers representation to any veteran or family member making a meritorious appeal of a VA decision.

LSC distributes approximately $1 million a year to the Consortium, which it uses to train and enlist more than 2,000 volunteer attorneys from 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Together, this army of volunteers has provided more than $25 million worth of free legal services to more than 2,000 appellants with cases pending before the Court of Veterans Appeals.

“We are so effective in attracting volunteers that we can’t always give attorneys a second case right away because we have people who are trained and waiting for their first case,” says Korean War veteran David Isbell, who chairs the Consortium. “It’s a remarkably popular program.” Since its inception, the Consortium has represented veterans of every major conflict dating back to World War II. Its lawyers have helped people like Joy Campbell, whose husband caught rheumatic fever while serving in the South Pacific and was plagued by health problems for the rest of his life. Joy’s husband died in 1988, but she was denied survivor benefits. Her Consortium attorney proved that Mr. Campbell’s health problems were related to his service, and she received dependency and indemnity compensation benefits that will make her life a little easier.

The program also helped Charles Jones, a Navy veteran who was awarded three Purple Hearts during his service in Vietnam. His exposure to Agent Orange resulted in his daughter, Michelle, being born with a hernia of the brain. Despite the opinions of five doctors that Michelle’s condition could have been caused by exposure to the defoliant, the VA dismissed the claim. Jones’ attorney successfully argued that Michelle’s condition was covered under the Agent Orange Benefits Act of 1996, and the decision was overturned.

This summer, I had the pleasure of meeting with Isbell (above right) and other Consortium leaders as they released their 10th Anniversary Annual Report chronicling a decade’s worth of similar successes. It’s available online at www.lsc.gov/websitedocs/vcpbp02.pdf and I encourage everyone who supports our military to read it. I was proud to serve my country in the U.S. Armed Forces, and today as LSC President, I am proud of the commitment that so many in the legal profession have demonstrated to our veterans (and their families) seeking justice after their valiant sacrifices for our country.

n LSC President John N. Erlenborn, a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1965 to 1985, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, enlisting at the age of 17.