ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A 103-year-old World War II veteran who pays his medical bills out of pocket is finally receiving veteran benefits from the U.S. government after 78 years.
Louis Gigliotti’s caretaker says the former U.S. Army medical technician has a Veterans Administration card but never realized he could use his status to access “free benefits” like health care.
Gigliotti, who goes by the nickname Jiggs, could use the aid to pay for dental, hearing and vision problems as he embarks on his second century. He was honored last week by family, friends and patrons of the Alaska Veterans Museum in Anchorage, where he lives with his nephew’s family.
Melanie Carey, her nephew’s wife, has been caring for Gigliotti 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 investigated with the local facility, where staff told her he had never been there.
“OK, well, let’s fix this,” she remembers telling them.
“I don’t think he realized that when you’re a veteran it has benefits,” Carey said. “I’m trying to reach you with anything you need fixed.”
Gigliotti was raised 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 was medically ineligible because of his eyesight. Friends of his were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Alaska National Guard said.
His second attempt to join the military was approved after the attack on the Hawaiian naval base, and he served as a surgical technician during the war without going to the combat zone.
After the war, he moved to Alaska in 1955. He owned two bars in Fairbanks before moving to Anchorage 10 years later. There, 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 Medal of Honor for securing his benefits. The medal is awarded to Alaskan veterans who served honorably in the U.S. military, in times of peace or war.
“This event is a reminder that regardless of how long it has been since your service, it is never too late for veterans to apply for their benefits,” said Verdie Bowen, director of the agency.
Carey said Gigliotti is a humble man and had to be persuaded to attend the ceremony.
“I’m like, ‘Wow, it’s really important that you do this because there aren’t a lot of 103-year-old veterans just out there,’” she said.
And the reason for his longevity depends on the day you ask him, Carey said.
For a long time, he has always said that he never feels like he is getting old. “I just want to go more,” he said Tuesday.
On other days, the retired bartender jokes that the secret is “you need to have one drink a day.”
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