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Decorated Beaver Co. Solider Fights VA Over Disability Pay

BEAVER COUNTY (KDKA) -- A Beaver County soldier - seriously wounded while fighting in Iraq - is now waging a different battle.

This one is with the Veterans Administration, and this fight centers on the decorated soldier's disability pay.

Paul Gennaro, 31, of Aliquippa, went off to war in Iraq in 2008 and was critically injured in an IED explosion. Four of his fellow soldiers died in the blast. He's now 90 percent disabled.

Gennaro was given a hero's welcome, when he returned home.

Now, Genarro and his family say his monthly disability check failed to arrive through direct deposit this month.

Gennaro says the VA told him they mailed his check this month, something that's never happened before and he wonders if the recent government shutdown was the reason why.

Gennaro said the VA apologized, and that they don't know how it happened.

What's just as bad, it may be a month-and-a-half before the matter is straightened out.

His mother, Michelle, said, "My son doesn't deserve this, even a single vet not being paid on time is unacceptable."

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