Marine with backlogged VA claim gets first check

(CBS News) A retired Marine master sergeant who told CBS News last month about his problems getting disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs received his first check Wednesday, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports.

Master Sgt. Aaron Helstrom, who was severely wounded in Iraq in 2003, told Martin in a "CBS Evening News" story broadcast July 10 that he expected to start receiving payments when he retired from the Marines in December 2011.

Instead, for seven months, he received form letters from the government advising him that his claim was being processed.

Gov't backlog leaves veterans waiting for benefits

On Wednesday, three weeks after the story was broadcast, Helstrom received his first payment from the government.

(Below, watch David Martin's story from last month)