U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson is urging veterans who are owed back pay to claim it before an Oct. 21 deadline.

Congress last year approved a $500 retroactive bonus to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines for every month they were forced to stay in the military beyond their enlistment term — a practice known as “stop-loss.”

Troops kept involuntarily in the services from the September 2001 terrorist attacks until 2009 were given until this fall to apply for the money. A news release from Thompson’s office Friday says an estimated 145,400 troops are eligible for back pay, but only 58,000 claims have been paid so far.

Thompson says he wants to make sure all eligible veterans in Mississippi get the benefits they’ve earned.