BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- A group of Massachusetts National Guard soldiers sued the state and federal governments Wednesday, seeking tens of millions of dollars in living expenses since the Sept. 11 attacks that they say were never reimbursed.

    The lawsuit appears to be the first of its kind in the U.S. Army National Guard, which has faced heavy demands since Sept. 11, 2001, lawyers involved in the case said.

    The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court by four soldiers, but it seeks to include hundreds of other guardsmen as a class action. It names the U.S. Department of Defense and the Massachusetts National Guard and seeks a total of $73 million in unpaid expenses.

    The soldiers, who are from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, say they traveled hundreds of miles to security postings -- such as Quabbin Reservoir, the Boston area's primary water supply -- and used their own money for gas, food and lodging, expecting to be paid back.

    But their requests for compensation were repeatedly denied until they were told by their commanding officers that they could be taken off their missions if they didn't stop asking for reimbursement, the soldiers say in their complaint. The response, they say, had a "chilling effect."

    "Plaintiffs concluded they could not seek the ... reimbursement compensation they felt they were owed, without extreme and negative repercussions on their military careers," the complaint reads.

    The plaintiffs say that if the soldiers had been reimbursed properly, the state would have paid out tens of thousands of dollars per day in expenses, based on a minimum of $126 per day for every soldier in the roughly 320 Guard jobs involved in the mission.

    The plaintiffs multiplied that daily cost by the 1,570 days of the post-Sept. 11 mission to get the $73 million estimate, said John Shek, their attorney.

    The Massachusetts National Guard was investigating the allegations and had no immediate comment, said spokesman Major Winfield Danielson. Enditem

    (Agencies)