Supporting and Empowering New Jersey Veterans
Supporting and Empowering New Jersey Veterans
A Long-Overdue Honor: Presenting State Medals to Sgt. James E. Lamb on Christmas Eve
This holiday season, the New Jersey Veteran Support Alliance had the profound honor of helping right a decades-old wrong.
On Christmas Eve, I stood in the living room of Sgt. James E. Lam, a Vietnam Marine Corps veteran, father, grandfather, and cancer survivor. I watched as his family’s faces filled with pride while I presented him with two awards he should have received long ago: the New Jersey Distinguished Service Medal and the New Jersey Vietnam Service Medal.
For those of us who serve veterans every day, James’s story is both heartbreaking and familiar. He served his country with honor, came home to New Jersey, built a family and a career, and only after retirement began facing the invisible wounds of war: multiple cancers linked directly to his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. He never complained. He never asked for recognition. He simply endured like so many of his generation.
At NJVSA, our mission isn’t just about healthcare and housing, it’s about dignity.
It’s about ensuring that no veteran who served this nation feels forgotten, especially those who came home to a country divided, to silence, and to unseen battles that would last a lifetime.
When I learned about James’s service and his ongoing fight, I knew we had to act. We worked with the State of New Jersey to secure these awards, and with the help of his incredible family, we planned a surprise ceremony in his own home. There was no press, no crowd. Just his wife, his daughters, their spouses, his grandchildren, and a few grateful volunteers from NJVSA.
The moment I handed him those medals, something shifted in the room. You could feel it; a weight lifted, a silence broken, a thank you spoken fifty years late.
One of James’s daughters told me afterward, “This isn’t just about medals. It’s about acknowledging that his service mattered.”
She’s right. And that’s why NJVSA exists.
James’s story is powerful, but it is not unique. Across New Jersey, there are still veteranssuch as Vietnam vets, Gulf War vets, post-9/11 vets, all who have never been formally thanked. They carry wounds both visible and invisible, and who deserve to be honored.
If you know a veteran like James, someone whose service has gone unrecognized, or who is struggling with the aftereffects of their time in uniform then I urge you to reach out to us. NJVSA can help navigate state award applications, connect veterans with benefits, and ensure they receive the healthcare and housing support they need.
This Christmas, I was reminded all over again why we do what we do. It’s not about medals or ceremonies—it’s about people. It’s about James, his family, and every veteran who wonders whether their sacrifice was seen.
It was seen. It is remembered. And at NJVSA, we are here to make sure of it.
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