Citation Nr: 19100729 Decision Date: 01/04/19 Archive Date: 01/03/19 DOCKET NO. 15-23 226A DATE: January 4, 2019 ORDER Nonservice-connected death pension is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran had certified active service from January 1942 to January 1945 with the Philippine Commonwealth Army and from January 1945 to May 1946 with a recognized guerilla unit. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for basic eligibility requirements for nonservice-connected death pension benefits are not met. 38 U.S.C. § 101, 107, 1521; 38 C.F.R. §§ 3.3, 3.6, 3.40. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran served as a member of the Philippine Commonwealth Army from January 1942 to January 1945 and with the recognized Guerillas and Combination Service Army from January 1945 to May 1946. The appellant is his surviving spouse. The case is on appeal from a November 2014 decision. The Board notes that the appellant requested service connection for cause of death and accrued benefits. In a June 2015 rating decision, service connection for cause of death and general eligibility to Dependents’ Educational Assistance were granted, effective January 9, 2013. Having been granted in full, those claims are not before the Board. See Grantham v. Brown, 114 F.3d 1156, 1158 (Fed. Cir. 1997). There are no other identified potential accrued benefits. The Board has limited the discussion below to the relevant evidence required to support its finding of fact and conclusion of law, as well as to the specific contentions regarding the case as raised directly by the Veteran and those reasonably raised by the record. See Scott v. McDonald, 789 F.3d 1375, 1381 (Fed. Cir. 2015); Robinson v. Peake, 21 Vet. App. 545, 552 (2008). Nonservice-connected death pension. Service before July 1, 1946, in the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, including organized guerilla forces under commanders appointed, designated, or subsequently recognized by the Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific Area, or other competent authority in the Army of the United States, shall not be deemed to have been active military, naval, or air service for the purposes of any law of the United States conferring rights, privileges, or benefits upon any person by reason of the service of such person or the service of any other person in the Armed Forces, except benefits under contracts of National Service Life Insurance entered into before February 18, 1946; chapter 10 of title 37; and chapters 11 and 13 of this title. 38 U.S.C. § 107(a); see also 38 C.F.R. § 3.40; Cacalda v. Brown, 9 Vet. App. 261, 264 (1996). As noted above, service department records establish that the Veteran’s recognized active service was from January 1942 to May 1946. Such service was with a recognized guerilla unit from January 1945 to May 1946 and with the Philippine Commonwealth Army from January 1942 to May 1945. Service department findings as to the fact of service with the Armed Forces of the United States of America are binding upon VA for purposes of establishing entitlement to benefits. See Duro v. Derwinski, 2 Vet. App. 530 (1992). The Board acknowledges that the Veteran served and contributed to the U.S. Armed Forces through his active service with a recognized guerrilla unit and the regular Philippine army. However, governing law restricts the types of entitlements flowing from such service. Although compensation for a service-connected disability or death is available to the Veteran and his survivors, they are not eligible to receive nonservice-connected pension or death pension as such benefits are set up in 38 U.S.C. Chapter 15, which is clearly not listed as an exception in 38 U.S.C. § 107(a) as set forth above. The Board notes that compensation benefits were awarded for service connection for the cause of the Veteran’s death, which is a greater benefit than the claimed pension benefit. RYAN T. KESSEL Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD J. George