Veteran struggles to prove existence to passport officials

[The Straight Story]

Veteran struggles to prove existence to passport officials
BY ANGELLE BARBAZON, Californian staff writer


Last Updated: Tuesday, Jun 17 2008 11:02 AM

Billie “Dusty” O’Donnell is a 79-year-old World War II veteran, a father of three with five grandchildren, a California resident of six decades.

But to passport agencies, he doesn’t exist.

O’Donnell hopes to be on a week-long cruise for his 80th birthday with a friend to Alaska and Canada next month, but he hit a roadblock in April when he tried to apply for a passport.

“I was probably born in a cotton patch in the Depression days and the Dust Bowl days,” he said. “People back then didn’t have time to keep records. They were just trying to get by — trying to survive.”

O’Donnell said he presented a birth certificate issued by a judge in Red River County, Texas, his original military discharge notice and two affidavits signed by family members to the post office to prove his American citizenship.

http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/474210.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Red tape will get ya everytime :^(

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Did they ever find the dead man in Yossarian's tent?

[baldguy]

3. If he doesn't have a birth certificate, he must be a terrorist.

Excuse me, the right kind of birth certificate....

:eyes:

[damntexdem]

4. Maybe he doesn't exist. Maybe none of us do.

Not in Bush's America.