An Alaska veteran is finally getting his benefits — 78 years after the 103-year-old was discharged

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A 103-year-old World War II veteran who’s been paying his medical bills out-of-pocket is finally getting his veterans benefits from the U.S. government after 78 years.

Louis Gigliotti’s caretaker says the former U.S. Army medical technician has a card from the Veteran Administration but he never realized he could use his status to access “free perks” such as health care.

Gigliotti, who goes by the nickname Jiggs, could use the help 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 at the Alaska Veterans Museum in Anchorage, where he lives with his nephew’s family.

Melanie Carey, his nephew’s wife, has been Gigliotti’s caretaker for about a decade but only recently started helping him pay his medical bills. That’s when she realized he was paying out of his own pocket instead of going to the VA for care. She investigated with the local facility, where staff told her he’d never been there.

“OK, well, let’s fix that,” she recalls telling them.

“I don’t think he realized that when you’re a veteran, that there’s benefits to that,” Carey said. “I’m trying to catch him up with anything that you need to get fixed.”

Gigliotti was raised in an orphanage and worked on a farm in Norwalk, Connecticut. He tried to join the military with two friends at the outset of World War II, but he wasn’t medically eligible because of his vision. His friends were both 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 Hawaii 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 relocating to Anchorage 10 years later. There, he worked for two decades as a bartender at Club Paris, Anchorage’s oldest steakhouse.

His retirement passions 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 Honor Medal for securing his benefits. The medal is awarded to Alaska veterans who served honorably in the U.S. armed forces, during times of peace or war.

“This event is a reminder that regardless of how much time has passed since their service, it is never too late for veterans to apply for their benefits,” said Verdie Bowen, the agency’s director.

Carey said Gigliotti is a humble man and had to be coaxed to attend the ceremony.

“I’m like, ‘Geez, it’s really important that you get this done because there’s not a lot of 103-year-old veterans just hanging out,’” she said.

And the reason for his longevity depends on which day you ask him, Carey said.

For the longest time, he’s always said he just never feels like he’s getting old. “I just want to go more,” he said Tuesday.

On other days, the retired bartender quips the secret is “you got to have a drink a day.”