Although many houses have flags out side these days, and numerous towns and cities have developed programs to honor those serving their country, Hudson County Freeholder Barry Dugan – a former U.S. Marine – said many veterans of the past have not received the recognition they deserve and he intends to do something about it.
As a result of a proposal developed by Dugan, veterans will soon be honored with a medal from Hudson County
Dugan serves on the Freeholders Military Affairs Committee.
“I’ve investigated the idea and found that other countries present medals to their residents who have served in the armed forces,” Dugan said.
While there are awards for combat veterans given on various levels of state and federal government, the county medal would be issued to any veteran that has served. The medal consider of a lapel pin and medal with ribbon, and Dugan predicted that many Hudson County residents would qualify.
First to be honored would be those that served in World War II, Dugan said, predicting that the ceremonies would be held around Nov. 11, Veterans Day at the Brennan Court House on Newark Avenue in Jersey City.
Dugan said the community needed to continue to recognize the contributions that veterans, combat era or not, and this would be one way to say thanks.
Some veterans, Dugan said, has not received the recognition they deserved, such as those who served during the Vietnam era or those that served during a period where there was no combat.
“We need to show these people that we appreciate what they have done in their serving our country,” Dugan said.
While many of the current service people are being honored for their role in various conflicts, some of those that have served in previous years have not, Dugan said, calling them largely forgotten despite the fact that all of them gave up time in their lives to serve their country. It is for this forgotten veteran that Dugan wishes the medals to be issued, although he said, the program would begin with the oldest veterans first and work up to the younger ones.
Dugan said there is urgency to this because of the aging of veterans has been a growing problem over the last few years.
“I don’t think we have a World War I veteran in Hudson County any more, although I know there have been some in other counties,” he said.
But many World War II veterans are beginning to fade, and many vets from the Korean War are now over 70. The average age World War II veteran is over 80.
“Once we start with World War II veterans we would expand to Korean War Veterans and then Vietnam War Veterans and veterans of other conflicts,” he said.
For the Hudson County program, Dugan said he looked at several programs including one recently expanded in Morris County.
Although he could not estimate how many World War II veterans would qualify, he said the Freeholders should figure at least 1,000 to start.
“I want to make certain that we do this right,” Dugan said. “I don’t want to have one massive ceremony. I think we need to hold a few ceremonies so that these veterans feel as if they are being honored individually.”