Veterans Day: the $2,500 state annuity, Chapter 115 aid and where to apply in 12 South Coast communities

SOUTH COAST Massachusetts pays a $2,500 yearly annuity to certain veterans the VA rates 100% disabled from their service, and to the parents and surviving spouses of service members who died from an injury or illness of wartime or combat service.

Local veterans offices also give need-based financial and medical help under Chapter 115 of the state's laws, and with Veterans Day on Wednesday, Nov. 11, the offices for 12 South Coast communities are listed below with their phones and hours. The application goes to the veterans office of the city or town where the veteran lives, and Dighton's office notes that every veterans service officer also helps veterans with federal benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Chapter 115: help for veterans in need

Under Section 5 of Chapter 115, the city or town where a veteran lives pays the benefits, and it pays only what a veteran or dependent needs for "sufficient relief or support." A person who can support themselves, or whose income is enough to live on, does not qualify, though income that falls short does not bar benefits that add to it when the state's secretary of veterans' services finds them necessary. The state then pays back 75% of what each city or town spends on the benefits, under Section 6.

Benefits start on the date of application, not before, although the law lets the secretary approve up to 60 days of earlier help when a serious accident or illness caused the need. An applicant must have lived in Massachusetts for one day before applying, and a city or town may pay by direct deposit with the veteran's written permission.

The chapter counts as a veteran, among others, anyone who served at least 90 days on active duty and whose last discharge was under conditions other than dishonorable. Dependents include a spouse, a widowed spouse, a parent and children, with children older than 18 counted only in the cases the law sets out.

Fall River's Department of Veterans Services describes the program on its page as a financial assistance office for veterans and their dependents who are out of work because of illness or injury, or who were laid off and are waiting on unemployment, workers' compensation, Social Security or other benefits. Dighton's veterans office says on its page that a veteran's DD214, the discharge paper, is required, and that it keeps the forms to send away for a lost copy. Section 3 of the law also requires a local veterans' agent to record a veteran's discharge papers at no charge when the veteran asks.

The $2,500 annuity

Section 6B pays $2,500 a year, in one payment on Aug. 1, to a veteran who lost both legs or whom the VA has found 100% disabled as a result of enemy action or an accident it certifies as service connected, and to veterans with blindness or paraplegia as the section defines them. The same amount goes to the parents and the surviving spouse of a service member who died of an injury or disease from active service in time of war, insurrection or combat.

Payments are due from the date of application, and for a parent or spouse the first payment can reach back to the date they first became eligible when the service member or the applicant lived in Massachusetts at the time of the death and the applicant lives here when applying. A change that took effect July 1, 2025, under Chapter 9 of the Acts of 2025, dropped the earlier wording that ended the payment for a surviving spouse who remarries. The section also says the annuity does not count as income when the state or a city or town decides who is eligible for a program or service the state funds or provides, unless leaving it out would, under federal law, bar or hurt the recipient's eligibility for that program.

Federal benefits and more

The local offices do more than Chapter 115, and Westport's veterans services page lists help with health care, disability compensation, pensions, home loans, burial benefits, property tax exemptions, the state's Welcome Home bonus and Registry of Motor Vehicles benefits, and it points veterans in crisis to the Veterans Crisis Line at 988. Dighton's office lists help with employment, education, hospitalization and medical care, and Fall River's lists annuities, medals, flags and markers, housing and prescription help.

Where to apply on the South Coast

Each office below is listed with the details its city or town posts, read Saturday, Nov. 7. Several of them see veterans only on certain days or by appointment, as noted.

• Acushnet: Office of Veterans' Benefits, Town Hall, 122 Main St., Mondays 8 a.m. to noon and Thursdays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., 508-998-0200, extension 8, with Veterans' Agent Bradford Fish.
• Dartmouth: Veterans Services, Town Hall, 400 Slocum Road, Room 216, 508-910-1818. Monday 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Tuesday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday 8 to 11 a.m., with Veterans Service Officer Matthew Brouillette.
• Dighton: Veteran's Services, 1111 Somerset Ave., lower level, 508-207-6021, with Veteran's Services Agent Raymond Hague.
• Fall River: Department of Veterans Services, One Government Center, Room 410, 508-324-2432, veterans@fallriverma.gov.
• Freetown: Veterans Agent Robert Klevecka, 508-763-3190, Monday through Friday 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. by appointment.
• Marion and Mattapoisett: Tri-Town Veterans Service Office, 16 Main St., Mattapoisett, Tuesday through Thursday by appointment, 508-758-4100, extension 212, vso@mattapoisett.gov, with Veterans Agent Christopher P. Gerrior.
• Plymouth: Veteran Services, Town Hall, 26 Court St., 508-322-3389, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Friday 7:30 a.m. to noon, with Director of Veteran Services Roxanne Whitbeck.
• Swansea: Veterans' Services at the Council on Aging, 260 Ocean Grove Ave., ground floor, Monday to Thursday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., 508-676-1831, option 3, with Director of Veteran's Services Kevin Serpa.
• Taunton: Veterans Department, City Hall, 15 Summer St., 508-821-1038, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to noon, with Director of Veterans Services Ally Tammaro.
• Wareham: Veteran's Agent at the Multi-Service Center, 48 Marion Road, Monday and Tuesday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 508-291-3100, extension 3135, with Veteran's Services Officer Vinnie Fountaine.
• Westport: Veterans Services, Town Hall Annex, 856 Main Road, Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., 508-636-1028, veterans@westport-ma.gov, with Veterans Services Officer Carol Freitas.

Under Section 3, the mayor of every city outside Boston must appoint a veterans' agent and a town's select board may, two or more neighboring towns can share one agent, and in a town whose agent works part time, the town clerk takes the application and sends it on to the agent.

Times and places for Veterans Day parades and ceremonies, plus what is closed on Nov. 11, are in our Veterans Day guide.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.