Leo Medals

COURIER-POST 1/6/2010 – CHERRY HILL. Area veterans of wars dating to World War II gathered Tuesday at the Cherry Hill Mall to receive honors from the state.

“This is great,” said 87-year-old Robert Edgin of Willingboro, who received a Meritorious Service Medal for serving in the South Pacific during World War II.

The New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs held the ceremony to give local veterans their due and to kick off a three-day informational stint at the mall. Veterans and their families are encouraged to visit the kiosk and receive information about benefits and entitlements.

Retired Army Col. Stephen G. Abel, the state’s deputy commissioner for veterans affairs, told the assembly of combat veterans not to be shy about seeking help.

“This is not a handout. This isn’t welfare. This is something you earned wearing our nation’s uniform when the nation called on you,” Abel said.

According to Abel, veterans who enlist the aid of their local service office to fill out forms receive $5,000 to $6,000 more in benefits. State veterans are also eligible for slots in three specially designated long-term care facilities in Vineland, Paramus and Menlo Park.

“It’s important for folks in uniform to understand what they have earned through their military service, especially those who were injured or wounded during their military service,” Abel said. “We honored them with some medals today, but we can also honor them by taking care of them when they most need it.”

Veterans at the ceremony noted that care for those who serve the country in uniform has improved significantly since the Vietnam era.

“When they came home, they were shunned by society,” said Brit Henderson, who turned out to help honor fellow veteran Leo Ethier of Delanco, recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal and Vietnam Service Medal. “Society realized later on that it was wrong and this is a way to show that it won’t happen again.”

Rovena Brunson of Willingboro tearfully accepted three medals for her late husband, who served in Korea and Vietnam. “I think about him every day,” she said of Willie Brunson, who died in 1976. “Anything like this, it’s teary eyes for me. We miss him a lot.”

Some of the eight honored World War II and 16 Vietnam veterans were given medals posthumously. Also honored were four men who served in one or both of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have struggled to keep up with the demands of caring for returning Iraq and Afghanistan service members. Ailments including traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, and loss of limbs were not survivable in previous conflicts. VA researchers estimate that 150,000 veterans have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, dubbed the “signature injury” of the Iraq war.

U.S. Rep. John Adler, D-Cherry Hill, who along with state Sen. Jim Beach, D-Camden, was on hand for the honors, said the country has an interest in serving its returning soldiers.

“President Washington talked years and years ago about how young people won’t volunteer for future wars to keep our country safe unless we treat those who served in past wars well,” Adler said.

Adler, a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, acknowledged that government had some way to go toward meeting that challenge.

“First, we have a huge backlog of disability claims,” he said. “We have to find ways to process legitimate claims promptly.”

Adler last week called for a progress report on the Philadelphia VA hospital, where an investigation found the majority of cancer procedures were botched. The hospital treats veterans in southeast Pennsylvania and South Jersey.

“I think standard care is quite good there,” Adler said. “But on the things that are not done as frequently I’m not yet convinced the VA has the proper systems in place to make sure veterans get what they deserve.”

The New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs information kiosk will be in the Cherry Hill Mall’s center court through Thursday.

Reach Jane Roh at (856) 486-2919 or jroh@gannett.com

Vietnam War veteran Leo Ethier of Delanco receives a medal Tuesday from retired Army Col. Stephen G. Abel. (DOUGLAS M. BOVITT/Courier-Post)

World War II veteran John Saal of Southampton meets Stephen Talbot IV of Bordentown, who served in the Iraq war, during Tuesday’s ceremony in Cherry Hill. (DOUGLAS M. BOVITT/Courier-Post)