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The Fourth of July weekend began off with a bang for seven Bergen County veterans, who obtained medals honoring their Vietnam period service in ceremonies on the Ridgewood Library on Friday.
Congressman Josh Gottheimer presided at ceremonies with Bergen County Commissioners Ramon Hache, Mary Amoroso, Germaine Ortiz and Tom Sullivan. Shaun Hutchinson, director of the county’s Division of Human Companies Division of Veterans Companies, additionally attended with Ridgewood Mayor Susan Knudsen.
Six of the veterans obtained Vietnam Veteran lapel pins created to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Vietnam warfare. The household of the seventh veteran, Donald Myles, now deceased, obtained replacements for eight medals earned throughout service however misplaced. All veterans obtained flags flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
“The seven veterans we’re recognizing at this time exemplify our nation’s greatest, and we owe them a substantial amount of gratitude for his or her service and sacrifice, ” Gottheimer mentioned. “Thanks, from the underside of my coronary heart, to your patriotism, your selflessness, for placing your lives on the road to defend our freedom, our households and the best democracy the world has even identified.”
Three veterans attended in particular person: Raymond Litwitz and Gerald Bucci of Ridgewood, and Joseph Burns of Ho-Ho-Kus. Awards for absent veterans have been obtained by relations or Ridgewood American Legion Commander Bob Paoli on their behalf.
The veterans gathered to talk briefly earlier than the ceremony, confirming their pleasure of their service however acknowledging the warfare’s unpopularity, and the danger of touring at the moment in uniform.
“We have been suggested to journey in our civvies (civilian garments) as a result of these touring in uniform have been getting harrassed,” Litwitz mentioned. “After all, we is also recognized by our brief army haircuts. Everybody else had longer hair then.”
Litwitz remembers his massive army contingent boarded a business airline to return dwelling and boarding the aircraft to “full silence” from the civilian passengers.
“However because the aircraft left the bottom all of us cheered,” Litwitz mentioned.
Bucci recollects two months at sea on a troop ship to achieve Vietnam.
“Coming dwelling we have been instructed to maintain our mouths shut,” Bucci mentioned.
Paoli served in Germany, so his ship journey wasn’t as lengthy, however was nonetheless intimidating as his first journey away from his block in New York Metropolis. Coming dwelling on the troop ship there was “much more revelry,” he mentioned.
“There have been a bunch of fellows from Brooklyn, and this one man had a kind of transportable Victrolas and lots of Louis Prima information,” Paoli mentioned ‘Good factor I appreciated Louis Prima.”
These honored included:
Retired Lance Corporal, Raymond Litwitz: Born in Passaic, grew up in Truthful Garden, later moved to Ridgewood. Enlisted within the Marine Corps after highschool. He served in Vietnam for 12 months and 27 days between 1968 and 1969.
Retired Non-public First Class, Joseph Burns: Born in Cleveland, Ohio, moved to Teaneck in 1944, Dumont in 1949, graduated from Dumont Excessive College. Served at Fort Leonard Wooden, Missouri, from 1959 to 1961.
Retired Military Commander Jerald J. Maksymowicz: Born in Jersey Metropolis, grandson of Ukraine immigrants, graduated from Ridgewood Excessive College. He was drafted 1964-65. Educated as a dental technician, then Officer Candidate College. Served in Germany for a yr, then Vietnam for 3 years with the 86th Chemical Detachment. Served 12 years with the U.S. Military. He later earned levels in math and science from St. Peter’s College.
Retired Captain Gerald Bucci: Born in Rhode Island, moved to Passaic and Paterson earlier than settling in Ridgewood. Graduated from Brown College earlier than becoming a member of the U.S. Marine Corps in 1965. He served in Vietnam April 1966 to August 1967 as Firm Commander for the HQ Firm within the ninth Engineering Battalion. After ending service in 1968, he went to graduate faculty on the Wharton College of The College of Pennsylvania.
Retired Captain U.S. Military, Wayne Lemme: Born in Elizabeth, he grew up in Yonkers. He obtained his personal flying license from the Civil Air Patrol at age 19. Whereas learning at New York College, he joined Reserve Officers’ Coaching Corps and was commissioned into the U.S. Military as a 2nd Lieutenant upon commencement. He skilled as a helicopter pilot and served with the a hundred and first Airborne Division in 1970. After his tour resulted in 1971 he joined the reserves.
Retired Specialist 4th Class, Jack Marcasciano: Born and raised within the Bronx, NY. Drafted in 1966, skilled with the 208th Sign Firm, served in Vietnam in 1968 as a Communications Middle Specialist. He was discharged in 1968 and returned to the Bronx. He lived along with his first spouse Mary in Lodi and Waldwick. He and his second spouse Bernadette dwell in Ridgewood.
Retired Specialist 5, Donald Gordon Myles: Born in Canada, migrated to the Hackensack within the Sixties, then moved to Paramus and Oakland the place he graduated from Indian Hills Excessive College in 1967. He was drafted shortly afterward and served in Vietnam with the first Air Cavalry Division. Died in 2015. He was posthumously awarded eight medals obtained throughout service and misplaced.
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