Feb 04 2009
World War II Combat Medic Martin Schur, 93, Freezes To Death – Power Shut Off
Martin Schur was a World War II veteran, widowed and living alone in Bay City, Michigan. He fell behind in his utility payments so the Bay City Electric Company placed a “limiter” on his electric service. The World War II Combat Medic froze to death as a result.
The World War II veteran’s frozen body was found in his home January 17, just four days after a device that regulates how much power he uses — installed because of failure to pay — shut off his power. A medical examiner said the temperature was 32 degrees in the house when Schur’s body was found.
The medical examiner told The Bay City Times that Schur died a “slow, painful death.” “It’s not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they’re burning,” Dr. Kanu Virani told the paper. (Source: CNN)
Nobody deserves to be treated like Mr. Schur was. Those responsible should be held accountable. Since his death the Bay City Electric Company has quit the practice of placing “limiters” on those delenquent in their payments.
Unlike private utilities regulated by the state, Bay City runs and oversees its own utilities and therefore doesn’t fall under Michigan’s public service commission. By law, Michigan requires private companies to prohibit cutting off service to senior citizens between November and April. Seniors must register for the program.
The city has begun questioning whether its rules and procedures for limiting or cutting off power need a major overhaul. The utility has stopped its practice of cutting power to customers who don’t pay their bills.
The utility also has removed all “limiters” on homes. (Source: CNN)
This veteran deserved the respect he earned by not only his service to his country, but also his frugal lifestyle. In his will he left his estate to the local hospital. All $600,000 dollars of it. Shame on Bay City for not looking after this elderly veteran. Someone should be charged with murder, because that is what it was, plain and simple.
Bay City Electric Light & Power put a “limiter” on Marvin Schur’s home because he hadn’t paid his bill but never spoke to him face to face about it. Instead they put a notice on his door, which the old man either didn’t see or didn’t understand. When the limiter popped his breaker, his furnace apparently went out and Schur died a slow, painful death.
As one Bay Cityian put it: “This man served his country and he survived Hitler, but he couldn’t survive Bay City (Electric) Light & Power.”
As much as I agree with that sentiment and as outraged as I am, we ought to hold back our anger just a little. The city says Schur had a gas furnace, not an electric one, and it may have malfunctioned. An investigation is ongoing. (Source: The Flint Journal)
Lets see what the investigation uncovers. This is not over yet.
Disturbing. This country owes it’s freedoms to men and women such as Martin Schur. It’s disgraceful. He obviously had money. To leave $600,000 to a local hospital, he had the money. The company must’ve known his age.
The man goes from honored servie member to just a number and, to the electric company, even less then that. how is it that in this country law enforcement comes down like a jack hammer if you leave your pets uncared for and neglected. Serious jail time if they die. Yet Martin Schur loses his life and the only outcome is that the electric company will “consider reviwing it’s process of handeling delinquent customers”?
A travesty.
I live in Bay City, Michigan. I did not know Mr. Schur nor did I live near him yet I’m fighting back tears as I write this. I read that not only did Mr. Schur earn a purple heart while serving his country, he also was a medic and may have saved some of his fellow comrade’s lives. This is a terrible sad story that needs more even more attention than it’s already been given so the same thing won’t happen to another senior citizen.
I know it won’t bring him back but someone at the Bay City Light Electric company has to be held accountable for this disgraceful act. In protest of the despicable acts done by our local power company, I’m not paying my bill until someone from the company contacts me personally. That way I can tell them face to face what a bunch of jackasses they really are.
No words can describe what I feel. I’m only 34, but over the last few years I have taken a keen interest in World War 2 history and have come to a very deep appreciation for the men who served in that war. I have been toying with the idea of going back to school to become a history teacher, and when I mention this idea I’m often asked, “Why?”
This story is exactly why! We need to remind ourselves of people like Martin Schur. We need to remember the times he lived in and the horrors he likely beheld as a wartime medic. This man saved lives. HE SAVED LIVES! He even received wounds of his own, risking his own life to do this for others. Artillery shells were exploding, bullets were flying, his pals were screaming in pain, and he was fighting all of this to patch them up so they could live another day.
Who fought for Martin Schur?
Someone should stand trial and answer this question before a judge! I don’t have to know Martin Schur to know that he was an unselfish man murdered by selfish people. He even sacrificed a more comfortable life in order to be able to help save even more lives! This man remained unselfish even after his service in the war, and the evident value he placed on human life should be a lesson to us all!
It pains me to know that he lived to see the world as he knew it become the selfish, disposable world that it has become. Even in death, he demonstrated that it shouldn’t be that way.
I truly hope that the remaining WWII veterans who are still alive are treated with a little more respect. No, a LOT more!
His name was Marvin, not Martin. Sorry for the oversight. The least we can do is get the man’s name right.
Harry, I checked again. Shame on the Flint Journal. They called him Marvin. Every other source I’ve found says his name was Martin.
I have no words for this! I just have no fucking words that can explain what I’m feeling right now!
I rode through Michigan about twenty years ago, so I could send my Dad a postcard from Hell! It got a laugh out of the old man, and since he was good, and kind enough to adopt a Cherokee Half-breed baby before it was “trendy” I figured I owed him!
Now that I think about it, it makes since that Michigan would have a town named Hell in it!
What I want to know is where were the people who’s job it is to look in on the elderly? Where were all these social workers?
And more than that, where were this mans children? When my Mother came down with bone cancer, I moved back home and took care of her until she died, in her sleep, in her own bed where she wanted to die. It wasn’t easy, but it was the right thing to do!
When my dad had a stroke, I took care of him! Even though the State made me put him in a rest home, I was there EVERY day, and if any of the staff, got disrespectful, they got a thick slice of me!
This poor old guy didn’t have a chance! When the electricity goes off, the gas heater doesn’t come on! They knew it! The fuckers knew how old he was! They knew how helpless he was! They let the man freeze to death because it would have taken too much time to save him!
Let ‘em all rot in Hell!