OTTAWA -- An NDP MP is urging the Liberal government to scrap an obscure post-WWII edict that obliterated the service record and benefits for thousands of veterans because they didn't complete proper paperwork.

Winnipeg MP Pat Martin was appalled to learn that roughly 14,100 men who served Canada during World War II were later "deemed never to have served" by the government through a 1946 order-in-council.

"These people answered the call like anyone else and served their country, and by bureaucratic bumbling they've been denied any benefits or even any recognition that they've served," he said.

Lorraine Yascheshyn, whose husband Frank served four years in the war, says he died last year at age 84 feeling upset and betrayed over his wiped-out military status.

"He died with that on his mind -- that he was cast aside. I'm brokenhearted seeing that he served the country and got nothing out of it," she said from her Winnipeg home yesterday.

Yascheshyn said her husband of 56 years had made inquiries, but was told he was not eligible for any benefits, including a $1,200 discharge resettlement allowance given to all personnel after the war. She called it a "grave mistake," and urged the current government to correct the wrongs of the past.

Steve Jurgutis, a spokesman for Defence Minister Bill Graham, said his department will examine the issue.