Veterans’ Insurance Dividend
photo taken from hemmings.com
Since the mid-1940s, a bogus warning has been circulating telling American veterans of Word War II that Congress had issued an act that they qualify for a dividend on their GI insurance. It is usually described as 65 cents for every $10,000 of insurance for each month of active duty or sometimes 55-65 cents per $1,000. The warnings stress that no benefits will be paid unless the veteran applies to the Veterans Administration, with usually a application form provided, to be completed to an address of a VA regional office in Philadelphia. Readers are urged to spread the word to other veterans of this. During the active period of this urban legend, the Philadelphia VA center had 10,000-15,000 letters per week about this bogus insurance dividend, even though Congress had never passed such a legislation.
Every applicant received a reply card describing how the whole thing was false and misleading. This legend died down between the 1940s and 1950s, but veterans have still been receiving this bogus claim as recently as 1992.
(Source: Brunvand, Jan H. Encyclopedia of Urban Legends. 2001.)
