o  The DEFAULT_VALUE clause, used with VAX DATATRIEVE,  serves  much
      the   same   purpose  as  the  INITIAL_VALUE  clause.   The  main
      difference is that the INITIAL_VALUE clause assigns a value to  a
      field when the field is first allocated, usually at compile time,
      but the DEFAULT_VALUE clause assigns a value to a field each time
      the record is stored without an explicit value assigned to it.

   o  Only VAX DATATRIEVE supports  the  DEFAULT_VALUE  clause.   Other
      language processors ignore it.