I got my veteran status by entering some kind of chat room with a BF representative. I've forgotten the site but it was linked from the neogaf BC2 forum.
In the chat room, I just told them what BF games I had, he asked me for my PSN, the email address I used to register on the EA servers and any serial numbers and then 1 minute later, he said "okay I've given you veteran status, can you just log on to make sure you have it and the M1 Garand". But now I don't actually like the gun.
And congrats about finding 1942

Im not even going to try looking for mine. Not seen it for so many years but Im fairly sure its in a random box, alongside 20 other dusty boxes in a highly unaccessible part of the house.
so do I have to make an EA account? cuz i dont have one.