I have some bad news...

[secondwind]

96. Reading this has saddened me deeply. I don't know what to say. Maybe

another letter to the WHITE HOUSE will bring some relief (?)

My Dad was born in the Dom. Republic, but was the son of a U.S. citizen. He was a merchant marine during WWII.

I will make this story short. He accepted a diplomatic position with the Dominican legation in the early 50's, as commercial attache, in El Salvador, and that is where my sister and I lived with our parents until their separated and eventually divorced.

My dad served in El Salvador for about five more years, then returned to the Dom. Republic (he was a businessman). This was all under Trujillo, BTW. He learned that while he was away (apparently he was given this post out of the country, for a reason), more than half my grandmother's land had been 'appropriated' by the dictator. We had tens of thousands of acres of land. My grandmother had been married to a Brugal, but that is another story.

Anyway, Dad contacts the VA in the 90's to see if he could claim benefits as a veteran (medical, whatever), and they told him that he had forfeited his U.S. citizenship when he accepted the diplomatic position in El Salvador, as a representative of the Dom. Republic.

ONE letter to Bill Clinton in the White House changed everything. He was reinstated as a U.S. citizen and received the benefits he was entitled to under the VA.

End of story. It can't hurt to send another letter to the White House, can it?