TN 12 (08-11)

A. Policy for the SSCRA and the LSDP

The SSCRA applies to all persons in the U.S. Armed Forces.

B. Information for processing SSCRA for LSDP

1. Claimant was or is a service member

Extend the 2-year filing period for a claimant who was or is a service member by a period equal to the period that the service member spent in active service in the Armed Forces after the number holder’s (NH's) death.

2. Spouse or child of deceased service member

Compute the 2-year filing period, beginning with the day following the earliest of the four dates listed below, provided we receive a report of death of the service member, listed by the Armed Forces as “missing” for some time before such earliest date and after October 16, 1940. Use one of the following dates to compute the 2-year filing period:

• the date the service department made a finding of presumptive death;

• the date the service department received a report or made a finding of actual death;

• the date a proper court makes a finding of death; or

• six months after SSCRA expires.

C. Definitions related to SSCRA

1. Service member

The term, service member, includes any member of the U.S. Armed Forces.

2. Missing service member

Missing includes absent in a status of missing, missing in action, captured by the enemy, or prisoner of war. Persons in the military service of the U.S. Army in the Philippine Islands are also missing from May 7, 1942 until the Army officially reported the change in the service member’s status.

D. Development for missing service members

Ask for the service member’s discharge or other military papers. If the papers are not available, take the claimant's signed statement. However, tell him or her that the date requires verification.