Terminally ill Army combat veteran says VA abandoned him
Published February 23, 2016
FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: Highly decorated Army combat veteran John Marshall traces his terminal cancer to hours spent over burn pits in Iraq, where everything from disabled IEDs to lithium batteries was reduced to cinder and smoke.
Now back home in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise, Ariz., the 31-year-old former private is facing death and is claiming the VA is AWOL.
"It's all just a big slap in the face," Marshall told FoxNews.com. "I tried to be the perfect soldier. I did everything I was told, and now they just forced my claim through and denied coverage and my benefits."
VA officials did not immediately return requests for comment. Marshall said agency officials don't believe his cancer has anything to do with his service to the nation, and that he missed mandatory appointments last year while he was hospitalized with pneumonia and battling post-traumatic stress disorder.