Albany, Ga. ? Stacey Sammis was devastated when she learned her husband, a Marine Corps helicopter pilot, had been killed in Iraq. She was insulted when she received only $6,000 as a military death benefit.

“Your life had been almost completely destroyed and ‘Here’s a check for $6,000,”‘ said Sammis, an Alexandria, Va., speech therapist whose husband, Capt. Benjamin Sammis, died in an April 2003 helicopter crash.

Sammis eventually received another $6,000 when the military’s “death gratuity” was doubled later in 2003. Last week, she learned she would be getting more.

President Bush signed into law an increase in the death benefit from $12,000 to $100,000 for the next of kin of any military personnel killed in combat zones or in combat-related training since Oct. 7, 2001.

The increase was part of an $82 billion emergency appropriations bill to fund the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, which also included a provision increasing military life insurance payments from $250,000 to $400,000.

News of the increases stunned 24-year-old Angela Davis of Twentynine Palms, Calif. Her husband, Marine Sgt. Zachariah S. Davis, was killed Jan. 6 during enemy action in Iraq’s volatile Anbar province.

The initial payments went toward bills, a used car and savings bonds for the couple’s two young sons. She said she’s been scraping by on a monthly $1,500 Social Security check, and the additional money will help cover the costs of raising her sons.

“I believe it’s a great thing, but I also think people should understand that doesn’t replace a life,” Davis said.

More than 1,600 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003. At least 1,229 have died as a result of hostile action, according to the Defense Department.

Brad Snyder, president and CEO of Armed Forces Services Corp., which specializes in keeping retirees and survivors up-to-date on military benefits, cautioned that some military survivors may not qualify for the increased benefits.

“We don’t want to fire up expectations,” he said. “We know that anybody killed in Iraq or Afghanistan is covered. But is a hand grenade accident at Fort Benning going to be included?”

The war widows said it was time to increase compensation for military survivors, even if they didn’t benefit personally.

“I don’t think you could imagine what I’d pay just to hold his hand a little while and watch him play with our babies,” said Colleen Evans, whose husband was killed in November when his Blackhawk helicopter crashed in Texas. “The pain and heartache I feel not having him with us runs through all of me.”