CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- I must set the record straight for readers, especially Mr. Steve Lane, of White Sulphur Springs, and suggest that he more closely read my op-ed of Oct. 9, then research the hard facts before making wild accusations that my GI Bill comments were "untrue."

Verbatim, I said "The 'cost-cutting' Republican Congress and president had done away with the GI Bill and, for the first time in history, began requiring the military to pay income tax."

While nicknamed "The GI Bill," the history-making legislation was officially titled The Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944. It passed Congress by one vote (a Georgia Democrat) and was signed into law by Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt on June 12, 1944. In 1952, a Democratic Congress amended and extended that law for those serving during the Korean War era. Democratic President Harry Truman signed it.

During the administration of Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, with both houses of Congress in Republican hands, the GI Bill was terminated. The repeal provided that persons entering the military after Jan. 31, 1955, would not be entitled to any benefits at all, and those in the service prior to that date who had not signed up for its benefits by July 25, 1956, would receive nothing.

Mr. Lane says, "I don't know the exact date when the military was required to pay taxes." Well I do, because I was there. That same Republican president and Congress passed a law making, for the first time in history, military pay subject to income tax and FICA deductions effective Jan. 1, 1957. From that date on, military personnel have had to file income tax returns.

In 1959, a new Democratic Congress, led by Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, passed a "Peacetime GI Bill" but it was vetoed by Eisenhower.

People who entered the military service of the United States between Jan. 31, 1955, and March 3, 1966, did not receive any GI Bill benefits whatsoever during that period. They were also excluded from membership by the American Legion and certain other "wartime" veterans groups. While the closest some of their members came to combat was in the bars and cathouses of Phoenix City, Frankfurt and Uijeongbu, many "Cold War Warriors" were being shot at in the Middle East and Vietnam during those infamous 11 years when those who served were treated as if somehow inferior.

On March 3, 1966, President Johnson signed a renewed, albeit extremely stingy, GI Bill into law. Some of its provisions were retroactive, but too little, too late for many of us.

Those are the facts, backed up by the Congressional Record and official accounts of the events and dates readily available on the Internet for those who would trouble themselves before shooting from the hip.

The words "bottom of the barrel" are those of Mr. Lane, in referring to the educational level of those entering the military today. What I said was that many draftees into the "old army" possessed baccalaureate degrees when they entered. How many nowadays, who obtained college educations by their own means, subsequently enlist into pay grade E-1?

He then goes on to accuse me, by relating history firsthand, of somehow disparaging today's members of our armed forces and their families. I did no such thing. Members of every generation of my family since the early 1800s have served in all branches, some coming home badly broken and others not at all. I am gushingly, spine-tingling proud of all who serve.

In his ill-informed vituperation, Mr. Lane tries to whitewash the documented historical fact that Republicans bitterly opposed and consistently voted against the early GI Bills just as they did Social Security, Medicare and a host of other social programs for people whom Mitt Romney derided as the "47 percent entitled." As we have seen, Republicans eliminated the first GI Bills when they got the chance and vetoed Democratic revival efforts.

They opposed the 1966 GI Bill as well, but, seeing it was going to pass with or without them, and knowing President Johnson would sign it, they made a politically expedient parliamentary maneuver to pass it "by acclamation."

That's how those war-hawk, flag-waving "grateful" Republicans "supported our veterans."

Cook is an author, artist and inventor who lives in Hurricane.