502
PUBLIC LAW 239-AUG. 8, 1953
[67
STA T.
of Commerce with respect to the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and (F) the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare with respect to the Public Health Service. S u r v i v o r ' s anSEC. 3. (a) An active member may elect, prior to the completion nuity, election. of eighteen years of service which is creditable in the computation of active-duty pay in the uniformed service of which he is a member, to receive a reduced amount of any retired pay which may be awarded him as the result of service in his uniformed service in order to provide one or more of the annuities specified in section 4, payable after his death in a retired status to his widow, child, or children, if such widow, child, or children are living at the date of his retirement. P h y s i c a l d i s a- Where the active member is awarded retired pay by his uniformed bility. service for physical disability prior to the completion of the eighteen years of service, the election may be made at the time of retirement. An active member who has heretofore completed the eighteen years of service may make this election within one hundred and eighty days after the effective date of this Act. An active member who, as a Missing status. result of or in connection with military or naval operations, is in a status of missing, missing in action, interned in a neutral country, captured by a hostile force, or beleaguered or besieged, and because of that status is unable to make the election prior to the completion of the eighteen years of service, or an active member who is in that status on the effective date of this Act and has theretofore completed the eighteen years of service, may make the election within six months of his return to the jurisdiction of his uniformed service. A person who is a former member on the effective date of the Act and who is thereafter awarded retired pay by a uniformed service may make Revocation, etc. the election at the time he is awarded that pay. The terms of the election may be modified or revoked by a member at any time prior to his retirement but any modification or revocation so made shall not be effective if he retires within five years after the date it is made. Any member who revokes an election shall not thereafter be permitted to withdraw or modify his revocation and after it becomes effective, he shall not be permitted to be covered in any way by this Act. Retired members.
Mental incompe< tency.
T y p e s of nuities.
an-
(b) A retired member who has heretofore been awarded retired pay by a uniformed service may, within one hundred and eighty days after the effective date of this Act, elect to receive a reduced amount of that retired pay in order to provide one or more of the annuities specified in section 4, payable after his death to his widow, child, or children. An election so made shall thereafter be irrevocable. (c) Whenever an active member, former member, or retired member is determined to be mentally incompetent by medical officers of the service concerned or of the Veterans' Administration, or is adjudged mentally incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction, and because of such mental incompetency is incapable of making any election provided in this section within the time limitations specified therein, the head of the department concerned may make the appropriate election provided for in this section on behalf of such member if so requested by the spouse or if there be no spouse by the child or children of such member. If such member is subsequently determined to be mentally competent by medical officers of the Veterans' Administration, or where appropriate is subsequently adjudged mentally competent by a court of competent jurisdiction, he may, within one hundred and eighty days of such determination or judgment, modify, or terminate the election made on his behalf. Deductions theretofore made shall not be refunded. SEC. 4. (a) Under the conditions set forth in section 3, an active or retired member may elect one or more of the following annuities.
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