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Fallen & forgotten: Congress approved the extension of immigration benefits to families of fallen U.S. service members four years ago, but the families say they never received them.

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They were two very different families One was from Chandigarh in the northern reaches of India near Kashmir, halfway between the borders of Pakistan and China. The other, from Lagos, the burgeoning former capital of Nigeria on the African coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

But their fates would converge with the deaths of the two U.S. soldiers--both immigrants, both gunners--killed in Iraq. They had lent their support to the War on Terror in Hush and blood, and the war had taken it.

Uday Singh and Segun Frederick Akintade never knew each other. They died almost two years apart. Singh, a legal permanent resident, was shot while manning his turret during a morning firefight in Habbaniyah on Dec. 1, 2003. Akintade, a naturalized citizen, was killed while on patrol in Abd Allah on Oct. 28, 2004, in his turret when a homemade bomb exploded under his Humvee.

Both men died after Congress passed legislation to ease the naturalization process for military members and allow immediate relatives to adjust their immigration status after the combat death of their loved one.

For some in Congress, the legislation seemed an appropriate gesture to honor the service and sacrifices of immigrants in the military and their families.

But it meant nothing for the Singhs and the Akintades.

In both cases, no one informed them about the benefits. They also didn't know that their window to apply for their immigration benefits had expired, as the law stipulates that requests must come within two years of the service member's death.

The government awarded posthumous citizenship to Singh, who lived in north suburban Lake Forest. But lawmakers crafted the legislation in 2003 in such a narrow fashion that his parents and sister, who were already legal permanent residents, didn't qualify for anything more than what they already had.

Meanwhile, Akintade's family, desperate to use their benefits, has been fighting to adjust their status--to no avail. His mother in Lagos has been unable to visit her son's grave in...