COLLINS, Miss. – A 69-year-old Vietnam and Iraq veteran claims that his prosthetic legs were taken after the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) refused to cover the cost, according to Newsweek.

Jerry Holliman, who was an 18-year-old specialist who volunteered to fight in Vietnam and served again as a 53-year-old master sergeant in Iraq, earned Bronze Stars in both wars. Holliman served a total of 40 years in the military and was exposed to Agent Orange which is known to have caused cancer and diabetes in many service members. Holliman was one of the many, surviving three types of cancer and later diabetes, which eventually took one of his legs in November 2018.

The VA paid for a motorized wheelchair for Holliman which aided in him getting into the kitchen of his home via a ramp, but the rest of his home wasn’t handicap accessible. Then he lost his other leg in April and had to go to the veteran’s home in Collins for what he thought would be a temporary stay.

Hope came in the form of two prosthetic legs from a company named Hanger, which he thought the VA would pay for, but they refused and then he was required to make payments to Medicare for co-pays.

Holliman says that he was in his room at the veterans home when someone came in and took the legs two days before Christmas. He’d planned on moving back home to Hattiesburg with the independence the new prosthetic limbs from a company called Hanger would provide.

He filled out lots of paperwork, took notes on how to use and clean the new prosthetic limbs, and began rehab with Hangar staff at the nursing home until he was informed that the VA wouldn’t pay for them.

And when he refused the Medicare co-pays?

The Hanger rep took his legs and walked out, leaving Holliman in the home as its youngest citizen. His roommate recently died and he’s getting depressed, according to the Clarion Ledger.

“I was sent there by my country…with the understanding that if something bad happened to me, that it would be covered by the VA,” Holliman told the Clarion Ledger, which also reported that though Hangar declined saying how much the legs cost, an ABC News report from 2013 stated a cost for one leg ranged from $5,000-$50,000.

After the Clarion Ledger first covered the story, Holliman got his legs back – but they’re useless since they haven’t been properly adjusted to fit him.

Holliman and his legs wait for the system to get it right.