Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 65.djvu/68

 34

Extended service.

PUBLIC LAW 23—APR. 25, 1951

active

Reserve personnel engaged in aerial flights.

Death from disability incurred while en route.

62 Stat. 604. 50 U.S. C S u p. IV, app. § 451 and note.

Payment demnity.

of in-

Designation of beneficiary, etc.

'Parent.'

Restriction. Payment in installments.

Applicability of automatic i n d e m n i t y coverage.

[65 S T A T.

Defense to be of immediate military hazard, shall be automatically insured by the United States, without cost to such person, against death in such service in the principal amount of $10,000: Provided, That any person called to extended active service for a period exceeding thirty days shall continue to be so protected for a period of one hundred and twenty days after separation or release from such active service: Provided further, That persons in the Reserve components, including the National Guard, while engaged in aerial flights in Government owned or leased aircraft for any period, with or without pay, as an incident to their military or naval training, shall be deemed to be in the active service for the purposes of this Act: And provided further, That for the purposes of this part, any person, who, on or after June 27, 1950, was or shall be provisionally accepted and directed or ordered to report to a place for final acceptance or for entry upon active duty in the military or naval service and who died or shall die as the result of disability incurred while en route to such place and within one hundred and twenty days after the incurrence of such disability, or any registrant under the Selective Service Act of 1948, as amended, who on or after June 27, 1950, in response to an order to report for induction into the Armed Forces and who, after reporting to a local draft board, died or dies as the result of disability incurred while en route from such draft board to a designated induction station and within one hundred and twenty days after the incurrence of such disability shall be deemed to have died in active service. SEC, 3. Upon certification by the Secretary of the service department concerned of the death of any person deemed to have been automatically insured under this part, the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall cause the idemnity to be paid as provided in section 4 only to the surviving spouse, child or children (including a stepchild, adopted child, or an illegitimate child if the latter was designated as beneficiary by the insured), parent (including a stepparent, parent by adoption, or person who stood in loco parentis to the insured at any time prior to entry into the active service for a period of not less than one year), brother, or sister of the insured, including those of the half-blood and those through adoption. The insured shall have the right to designate the beneficiary or beneficiaries of the indemnity within the classes herein provided; to designate the proportion of the principal amount to be paid to each; and to change the beneficiary or beneficiaries without the consent thereof but only within the classes herein provided. If the designated beneficiary or beneficiaries do not survive the insured, or if none has been designated, the Administrator shall make payment of the indemnity to the first eligible class of beneficiaries according to the order set forth above, and in equal shares if the class is composed of more than one person. Unless designated otherwise by the insured, the term "parent" shall include only the mother and father who last bore that relationship to the insured. Any installments of an indemnity not paid to a beneficiary during such beneficiary's lifetime shall be paid to the named contingent beneficiary, if any; otherwise, to the beneficiary or beneficiaries within the permitted class next entitled to priority: Provided, That no payment shall be made to the estate of any deceased person. SEC. 4. The indemnity shall be payable in equal monthly installments of one hundred and twenty in number with interest at the rate of 21/4 per centum per annum. SEC. 5. The automatic indemnity coverage authorized by section 2 shall apply to any person in the active service of the named Armed Forces who, upon death in such active service, or within one hundred and twenty days after separation or release from such active service

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