CONNERS/VAN DREW MILITARY MEDALS BILL PASSES SENATE

(TRENTON) - The Senate today passed legislation Assemblymen Jack Conners and Jeff Van Drew sponsored to honor more New Jersey veterans for their military service by refining eligibility for the New Jersey Distinguished Service Medal.

"The brave men and women of New Jersey deserve to be honored for all they have sacrificed," said Conners (D-Burlington/Camden).  "We should recognize our heroes - the soldiers, sailors, and pilots - who have bravely sacrificed their lives for our country."

The measure (A-1448) allows resident veterans, deceased or living, who live (or lived) in New Jersey for at least 20 years in the aggregate to be eligible to receive the New Jersey Distinguished Service Medal.

Currently, there is no length of residency required to receive the Distinguished Service Medal.  The only requirement is state residency at the time of entry or induction into military service.

The law also allows veterans who are no longer residents of this state but lived in New jersey at the time of their induction into the organized militia or federal military service to be eligible to receive ribbons and the medal and ribbon being issued by the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the ending of the Vietnam Conflict in January of 1973.

The law also will allow New Jersey to appropriately honor those veterans, deceased or living, who have made this state their home for a significant part of their lives, but who were not residents when they military service.

"We should honor the service of the military heroes who have spent the better part of their lives in New Jersey," said Van Drew (Cape May/Cumberland/Atlantic).  "The New Jersey Distinguished Service Medal should honor all New Jersey veterans who have fought for our country's freedoms."

The New Jersey Distinguished Service Medal is awarded to certain veterans for active military service in a combat theater of operations during a war or emergency, for especially meritorious service, or for being a prisoner of war or missing in action.

Applications for the New Jersey Distinguished Service Medal are available from the Military and Veterans Affairs' Web site, which may be accessed through www.NJ.gov.

The measure was passed by the Senate 34 to 0.  It now heads to the Governor, who may sign it, veto it or modify it in the form of a conditional veto.
 
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