The backlog of veterans waiting to receive benefits is a bureaucratic nightmare — but that's not news. In Alaska, the issues run even deeper: There are veterans who don't even know they're entitled to benefits.
NPR reporter Quil Lawrence and photographer David Gilkey recently trekked up to the area around Nome, Alaska, along the Bering Strait — accompanying a Department of Veterans Affairs official in search of those veterans who, in some cases, don't even want to be found.
See more of Gilkey's portraits in this story about searching for Alaska's veterans.
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