Vietnam Veterans were treated like garbage when they returned from war

PTSD Vets Are Fighters And Surviviors...
At Times, However, We Can Use Some Extra Support From Those Who Really Care, And Who Are Thankful For Our Sacrifices, And Service For America.

Three Brothers: The Oldest Served In The Army, The Next Served In The Navy, The Youngest Served In The Marine Corps

This is an act by the State of New Jersey Supreme and Superior Courts to deceive, an act of fraud, an act to manipulate due process. Statute of limitations issue is bogus here… fraud has no limitation in federal court, and Statute of limitations runs from the time the fraud is found…                                                               Comments of a Constitutional Attorney, his full comments are below.

A Proud Veteran's Struggle For Justice
by Will Wagner

John "Jack" Cunningham always wanted to volunteer in the Marines and volunteer he did; one month after he graduated from famous Power Memorial Academy. He grew up watching patriotic films on television about the heroism of America's overall military in World War II and Korea; his older brothers served in the military: one in the US Army, the other in the Navy. A brother-in-law, who Jack was close to, served in the Marines during the Korean War in the 1st Marine Division at the Chosin Reservoir.

Eventually, Jack's dream of serving in the Marines came true and he went to boot camp at Parris Island (famous for its depiction in Kubrick's take on Vietnam Full Metal Jacket). After his training, at the age of nineteen Jack was sent to California where he received orders from the Combined Action Program (CAP): he was to go to special training school in Da Nang. Jack had watched war movies when he was younger but this wasn't a movie on tv; this was Vietnam.   A life long of never-to-forget memories jammed into one short year. But he wanted to serve for America like so many brave and honorable Americans before him. Like all Marines, he was extremely proud of his Marine uniform picture that he earned while in Parris Island Marine Boot Camp.

Please Press The Picture For A Bigger Copy

Although at 19 years old, the skinny New York City boy thought, he knew so much. His high school, Power Memorial had boys from around the city and from around the world. He was about to learn so much more. Jack knew the battle was going to be intense, with many hardships and violence, but he didn't know it was going to be as intense, rewardless, and somewhat disgraceful when he came home. For this was a different, and especially unique time for America's fighting men and women. The parades of honor and respect were no more. This type of negative attitude toward our military would last for many decades... And Jack, like so many other Vietnam Era vets, were about to fully learn it the hard way. They were about to fight this war alone.

The small CAP units served round the clock in Vietnamese villages where they defended the villagers from various levels of terrorist attacks. The young American Marines used their weapons of war, but they also used friendship and kindness just as much and at times, even more.  The warriors treated the people using basic average human instinct and character.  They were nicknamed "the Peace Corps volunteers with rifles." The goal of these American Marines were to teach the peasants a better way to fish and farm, not hand them fish and rice.  This truth was the complete opposite image of our military, what the American news media was highlighting every night.

But the truth about the Marine Corps' Combined Action Program was far more ominous: many times, CAPs were killed almost as soon as they were replaced. The tiny units consisted of only a handful of Marines and a U.S. Navy Corpsman per village and attacks were often.

The U.S. Navy Corpsman were special and unique. They were there for caring for the Marines, but also the daily, long line of Vietnamese villagers needing regular health care. The Marines, including Jack, helped with bandaids and giving babies soapy baths. Any complex health condition, the villager would be sent to a Marine base by helicopter or Jeep. Regardless of the health condition, payment was always just a smile.
For the young, Americans supplying the health care, it was like a new TV episode of Mash everyday. No Vietnamese peasant was ever turned away without health care. Many friendships on both sides were created. United States Navy Corpsmen became popular village celebrities.  Jack heard years after the war that one Navy CAP Corpsman, Doc O'Brien even personally paid for his village's school to be built.

At first the CAPs consisted of Marines who volunteered for the units, but as more and more horrifying stories of violence, brutal conflict, and high casualties began to spread, Marines had to be assigned. For some CAP Teams, they were known as Suicide Squads. The only thing for most CAP units, they did not even have a squad of Marines living in their village.   Only on paper, the teams were a little more than a fortified squad.

Jack was assigned to the Duc Duc resettlement village where conflict almost immediately greeted him. There were many times where death was certain- times that many of us who have never been in the heat of battle could never understand. There is no question of Jack's and the other CAPs bravery. Like in all wars, for most Americans in Vietnam bravery was routine. Unfortunately, stories of Cap units stretched far too thin beating the odds and saving the lives of villagers are hardly told. Far more people know of the tragedies like the massacre of My Lai village where it was the atrocities of Americans rather than the many stories of those like Jack's. The American News Media and Hollywood became extremely rich from pushing fake news stories and lies. Most American people would believe what ever the news media and Hollywood would put out. Why would they lie...

Viet Cong terrorists loved using the tools of violent death on innocent village people. To the communists everything was terrorism. The more vicious, random and heartless the attacks were on innocent people, the more control they had over the families of the village. But small American Marine CAP Teams stood in their way.

The Duc Duc Resettlement (Refugee) Village that Jack's CAP 2-9-2 unit defended had a population in the thousands while, with the exception of a handful of villagers who fought alongside the Americans, there were just on average of eight marines and as few as four at any given time. Four teenage Americans in a Vietnamese peasant-farming village of thousands. There were no 'safe-places' for these American college-age kids. But the Marines were not looking for any safe places. They were there to help and protect innocent people like American service men and women did throughout our country's history.

The confusion of which villagers were sympathetic to the US forces and which were sympathetic to the Communists created a situation rife with paranoia. There were constant rumors of communists infiltrating the village. Communications between the CAPs and the villagers was often mangled by language barriers. Enemy propaganda circulated constantly exploiting the CAPs obvious vulnerabilities, especially the size of the units. Threats of the units to be wiped out were almost daily. Intelligent reports of hundreds of communists coming to attack the Marines and village kept everyone on extreme edge. Regardless of the bigger odds facing them, the village-Americans were their to protect the innocent people.  Semper Fi - Always Faithful was in their blood.

Jack was wounded three different times in and around his village of Duc Duc. He received one Purple Heart, because the other two wounds were minor. During one of his units daily patrol's, he stepped on a large booby trap that never exploded. During one intense combat action outside the village, Jack's buddy George Dros of Burlington Flats, NY credited Jack with saving his life and that of two other Marines, when Jack intentionally made himself a target for Viet Cong terrorists in order to save his three buddies.

Many times, Jack's worst moments weren't during heat of battle but the rare times of calm when he could actually process what was going on: the fear of attacks at any moment and the paranoia that the enemy might be hiding amongst the same people he was trying to protect. Beyond that was the bigger picture: he didn't know who he was fighting or why he was fighting. His generation was divided between those who had their doubts but didn't voice disrespect and those who protested violently. In May 1970, the shooting deaths of four anti-war protesting students at Kent State made this same mental conflict even worse as the line between countrymen and enemies blurred even further.

This extreme stress and pressure at such a vulnerable time left a permanent impression on Jack. The fact that the local communists had a bounty on each of the Americans heads. The uncertainty of enemy attacks, the frustration with the treatment of his own countrymen, and- most importantly- the confusion over what the ultimate goal was with the war created the perfect storm in his head. Added to this, Jack's unit was shocked to find a Viet Cong tunnel that contained, $5,000 in American green currency, $3,000 in military currency, and- most painful of all- boxes of clothing donated by students from the Berkley University in California. Students the same age as Jack were protesting and supporting the very enemy killing off marines and Vietnamese peasants left and right. As small a gesture as the clothing was, it was the worst stab in the back Jack could have ever gotten from his peers back home in America. He felt that his buddies and him were being betrayed by those who should have been supporting them. Jack felt very a lone.   He wondered how World War II veterans felt, when they were battling in their war.

On July 17, 1970, Jack was part of a five Marine patrol outside his village that got pinned down and surrounded for hours. Another CAP Team from another village had to come to their rescue. However, it too got pinned down. Marine helicopter gunships and two Navy F-4 fighter jets came and bailed out both CAP Teams.

In August 1970, an event would occur that would never leave him the same again. After switching patrols one evening with another marine, a surprise attack would result in his replacement losing his legs then dying from the blood loss. The tragic death would be one that stood out amongst the many other bloody incidents during Jack's time in Vietnam. In his mind, he was at fault rather than the enemy. If he hadn't switched patrols, the other man would be alive. Jack would remain haunted by the death long after he was safe from the daily horrors of the war. Around the time of the death, Jack would receive news and clippings that the Vietnam War memorial in his hometown had been vandalized twice by protesters. The anti-military protesters attacked by night like communist, Viet Cong terrorists the names of the town's eight Vietnam War dead with tar and black paint. Already bitter, this information served to only rub more salt in Jack's wounds. Many of today's patriots would almost feel the pain, he was under. WHY...   Jack felt extremely alone. But he knew he still had to do his job.

Conditions worsened when word began to spread that the CAPs were going to pull out of the area. The villagers felt betrayed and their relations with the Marines cooled considerably. Night watches consisted of constant wakefulness leaving Jack and his Marine buddies perpetually exhausted. Any wrong move meant death; any wrong action meant further ostracizing from the villagers. His very sanity became a delicate tightrope as the extreme conditions weighed down everyone around him. Finally, President Nixon announced the withdrawals of the troops freeing Jack from his torment. He left in February 1971 but leaving the battlegrounds would be bittersweet. A few months later in March and April, successive Viet Cong attacks destroyed to complete ashes the Duc Duc resettlement village killing hundreds of the same villagers Jack had previously been tasked to protect.

Jack returned to the United States with the memories of the war, and stupid questions of how many babies he was forced to kill and did he ever have to burn his village down, but as time went on, they seemed to fade away. There were some events in the future that would create even more emotional turmoil: the fall of Saigon in 1975 would be especially painful as he recounts how he felt when he learned the news: "A lot of sadness and a lot of anger, even rage. I felt everything was a pure waste." To put the 1975 fall of Vietnam into perspective, just thirty years before America was celebrating the triumphant victory of the Allied forces against the Axis. Now, nearly forty years after the fall, many veterans of the Iraq War know a similar bitterness when the country they fought to liberate fell into the hands of ISIS.

Life began to slowly go back to normal. Jack settled on Long Island and eventually in northwestern New Jersey, started a family, and began a career running computer systems at Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in Manhattan. His experience with the military proved to be useful for him as he became increasingly more successful. By the 1980s, life was good for Jack. He was thought highly of by his supervisors, senior management, his peers and was responsible for up to 17 employees. Although he had more employees on his computer staff than in his CAP Team, Jack begun to think of his team of computer programmers and analysts as his own CAP Team. His Subscriber Data Processing Team were now his buddies. The job was somewhat stressful but he handled it well before things began to change unexpectedly in 1985. Stress from the job were starting to trigger some intense memories of the village.

In 1980, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was added to the DSM-III by the American Psychiatric Association. PTSD has since become closely associated with veterans from Vietnam and for good reason: 31% are believed to suffer from it. While the severity of the condition can vary from patient to patient, it can be debilitating for those who have it worst. PTSD can manifest itself in minor ways for years as anxiety or intrusive flashbacks with very little effect on a patient's day to day life. Sometimes, years can pass before it causes serious issues as was the case with Jack, who began to experience serious problems around 1985 but managed to keep working for sometime while his condition slowly deteriorated.

At the time, like many other Vietnam vets, Jack kept his thoughts, memories and feelings to himself. Socially, he started to isolate.   Since he was having memories of the war almost everyday, Jack started writing down his experiences from serving in the Combined Action Program (CAP). In a short period of time, he ended up writing 8 short stories of his village life.

Breaking through the stigma of PTSD was extremely hard. Besides, no one really wanted to talk to Vietnam vets about the war. And Vietnam vets did not want to talk to people who could not understand or relate.  Thanks to Hollywood, certain news-hound-celebrities, the news media and even some politicians, the image of PTSD Vietnam vets scared many in the general public. The caricature of Vietnam veterans as lunatic baby-killers and village-burners was still fresh in many Americans' minds. Jack's feelings of battling alone became stronger. To fight the negative feelings and images, Jack started letting family and friends at work read his short stories.   To his utter amazement people liked them and found them extremely interesting. Many people asked to read all 8 stories. Based on the feedback from readers, he started to think that maybe he could help change the negative image of Vietnam vets. Jack wanted to fight back. He didn't think that he was a hero, but he strongly felt that he served with heroes. There were two million real heroes that served in Vietnam. Besides, having people read the experiences and stories was much easier than talking about them.

With the grace of God and prayer, Jack finally reached out to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Using federal Veterans Administration's (VA) medications and therapy to cope, Jack carried on with life as usual, but with each year his memories weighed him down further. Finally, in 1989, he was no longer able to work. It is common with many who suffer from PTSD- like sufferers from severe forms of anxiety or depression- to become chronically unemployed due to the difficulties their condition imposes on them. In this day and age, there is far more leeway for someone with a mental illness to get help and recognition. In 1989, however, many people's knowledge of PTSD came from movies like First Blood where the main character John Rambo suffers from a psychotic break due to his experiences in Vietnam. PTSD veterans had been stereotyped as crazy and able to snap at any time. This belief caused many of sufferers to remain in the shadows because of the fear of being ostracized for their shortcomings. Far to often, brave and honorable veterans with PTSD were judged for the false and weak images of the stigma of PTSD. Many people say that tens-of-thousands took their own lives, because of it.

While Jack did seek help, he didn't get better. However, he continued his writing about his Vietnamese village life.   He felt that Hollywood needed to tell the truth about Vietnam veterans.  He started to write to Hollywood movers and shakers. Although he received a number of autograph pictures from stars, he did receive two very promising responses from two of his heroes: Actor Jimmy Stewart and Movie Director John Huston.

Twice Jack would be hospitalized at VA facilities in 1986 and 1987 for PTSD; both times, he was sent gifts and support by his employees and friends. He seemed to have good support but in 1989, the memories of friends' deaths during the war created intense survivor's guilt. This, along with life's stresses, created the perfect storm. Oftentimes, those with PTSD will not experience worrisome symptoms until they've gone through an extended illness like pneumonia or influenza; others won't have symptoms until they enter a period of extreme stress like having issues at work or with family. With Jack, his own thoughts became his worst enemy. As the good memories started flooding back into Jack's head, the bad memories came just as fast. He had no switch or filters to regulate his thoughts. He could no longer function.

Jack would continue in this way until 1996 around the time of the birth of his fifth child. He had to be again hospitalized in a VA hospital for nearly four months because of PTSD which obviously caused problems in his personal life. The loss of two older sisters each to cancer within two years did not help. As his mental state tore him apart, his domestic life caused him further pain. In 1999, Jack's wife filed for divorce. The divorce suit would be only the beginning of Jack Cunningham's struggle for justice as lawsuit after lawsuit exposed the corruption of the New Jersey justice system.

Since the 9-11 terrorist attacks, most of America's hearts and minds were open to the sacrifices and truths of America's Vietnam Veterans. Jack's writing goal of trying to improve the image of Vietnam vets was no longer necessary.   The truth was coming out on its own. But Jack still wanted to follow through.

Now, he was facing a new battle with the New Jersey courts as a plaintiff.   A battle even more intense than he ever fought in. In the end, Jack would want federal criminal corruption and fraud charges against a number of high level New Jersey Supreme Court lawyers for protecting one of their own.
*

To handle his divorce suit, Jack hired a locally, well-known, law firm out of Morristown, New Jersey, Maynard & Truland, LLC. He paid them a retainer check, which they cashed within two days and expected a routine handling of his case, but things only fell apart from there. It was as if his lawyer and law firm didn't care he had PTSD. Sometimes, it felt like that they were even trying to take advantage of his veteran disability.

Deadlines were missed and Jack's needs were ignored. Jack's lawyer was not even returning his phone calls. For whatever reason, the firm was grossly inadequate in their handling of the divorce suit even allowing for it to enter into default; a fact they neglected to tell Jack until it was too late. On the way out the door to visit his older sister in a NYC hospital, who was getting a major operation for lung cancer, the third to have cancer, he was notified by mail from family court that he was now in divorce default for no activity on the case. The misrepresentation given by the firm was so poor that Jack's own ex-wife wrote to the courts complaining about their woeful behavior saying that Jack was, for all intents and purposes, representing himself. All that the firm managed to do was overcharge him an extra $25.00 an hour over the contracted rate that they had agreed on. What made it ever more disgracefully, interesting was that right in the Maynard & Truland law firm's own printed Invoice was that they were billing Jack for their own Divorce Default removal. The Maynard & Truland law firm was completely acting without attorney ethics. To Jack, he felt that they were acting above the law. He could not understand why they were doing this. Again, he even thought that they might be taking advantage of his PTSD disability. He could not understand it. This was his own law firm that he already had paid. His stress was building. It had nothing to do with the divorce. It all had to do with his own law firm's unprofessionalism.  But he wanted to fight back. PTSD vets were not there to be taken advantage of. Just like he fought to save the innocent people of the Duc Duc Refugee Village, Jack felt he was battling to save future PTSD vets and even average New Jersey citizens from discrimination and fraud. No one should be above our laws.

Jack was rightfully angry over how he had been treated and took his case to the New Jersey Supreme Court local, State Attorney Ethics Committee. This would lead to even further problems for Jack since a partner of Maynard & Trudell actually served on the Ethics board: Robert Correale. This Robert Correale was the same lawyer who was supposed to serve on Jack's behalf in court but never once spoke and was obviously unprepared. Cunningham soon faced an enemy far more stealthy and far more cruel than that of the Viet Cong decades before. He was now going to take on the cold, faceless courts of New Jersey and, later, the Federal justice system.

The first response Jack received from the State Ethics Committee was one that simply stated he should get a different attorney. This, of course, was far from satisfactory: what about the horrible representation Jack received by the law firm and, by extension, Robert Correale? A document, sent by Correale to the same Ethics committee that he was on the board of, defended his law firm. The ethics violations that Jack alleged were to be investigated by- of all people- Robert Correale and the other lawyers on the committee, who Correale supervised!

In any other setting, this would be considered an extreme violation of the legal system, a major Conflict of Interest in the very least. However, it was permitted. A series of questionable events would occur which illustrates the grave injustices that Jack has faced for over 17 years. Correale would use his influence on the Ethics committee to remove himself from blame and, later, court recordings related to a future law suit (mentioned below) "disappeared" before they could be officially transcribed. Finally, if that weren't enough, Correale mocked Jack's struggle with PTSD and brought a lawsuit claiming that he owed his law firm an additional $2,000.

The judge handling the law suit threw the suit out but not before adding that Jack had gathered enough evidence to warrant another lawsuit. These remarks could not be recovered when Jack was preparing for his counter suit. How all of this occurred seems like a wild conspiracy that could only be pure fiction but it's all true and it plagued Jack daily. His PTSD was going through the roof and Jack's VA doctors wanted to hospitalize him for the exacerbation. Already reeling from a divorce and his ongoing struggles with PTSD, he had to deal with the bureaucratic nightmare of the New Jersey legal system. He had to continue fighting. He was all alone in this fight just like so many times thirty years before in his CAP unit in Vietnam.

Soon, though, Jack wouldn't be alone. Many are familiar with the Marine Corps motto: "Semper Fi" which stands for "Semper Fidelis" a Latin term meaning "always faithful". Indeed, the Marines were always faithful to Jack as a number of the Marines he served with in the past- and a number of other vets who learned of his struggle- reassured him that he was NOT alone in his fight. For thirteen years, Jack led a letter writing campaign that went all the way up to then-governor James Mcgreevey who had the Office of Attorney Ethics to state that if Robert Correale were to use his position on the State Ethics board to investigate Jack's case it would be a major Conflict of Interest and ethics violation. After months of writing and Ccing everyone in the New Jersey State Government, Jack finally received a letter from New Jersey's Supreme Court Director of Attorney Ethics that they realize there is a Conflict of Interest, if Robert Correale own attorney ethics committee investigated him and his Maynard & Truland law firm. This was a small victory for Jack but he went on. The investigation was moved to another nearby ethics committee and a few of the involved lawyers were told to write up sworn certifications of what was their version of Jack Cunningham's charges against them. One of the law firm's partners, Joe Truland was strangely excused from writing up his own sworn certification.

In about two weeks, the Maynard and Truland sworn certifications were released to the NJ Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics, along with copies to Jack. These Certifications were filled with perjuries, vague, misleading and contradicting statements. Robert Correale had the most detailed certification, which was filled with the most perjury, vague and misleading statements. Being a NJ Supreme Court Attorney Ethics committee member himself, he was probably used as the biggest liar for a reason. In two areas of his sworn certification, Correale even openly mocked Jack's PTSD.   Nothing was questioned. Strangely, the certifications were accepted by the committee supervisors without question with no supporting documentation and evidence as well.    What made it even more stranger was the fact that Jack himself supplied detailed evidence and documents:   the law firm's own contract, invoices, court filed letters, court filed documents, and even official-federal Veterans Affairs Medical Records that highlighted the impact the corruption and fraud was having on Jack's PTSD. All the committee supervisors had to do was review Jack's evidence and compare it to the certifications. The committee sat on their decision for months.

Jack's letter writing campaign did not die down but he continued for justice. He would write to Governors Richard Codey, Jon Corzine, and the current Governor Chris Christie but there has still not been Justice. Codey, Jon Corzine and Chris Christie never even returned a letter to Jack. Yet before news cameras, each of these New Jersey governors praised veterans and highlighted the importance of giving veterans respect and benefits that they earned.

*

To handle his divorce suit, Jack hired Maynard & Truland, LLC and informed them in detail that he was PTSD disabled from heavy combat in the Vietnam War. He signed their contact, paid them a agreed upon retainer check that the law firm cashed within three days and expected a routine handling of his case, but things only fell apart from there. Because of no of action from the law firm, deadlines were missed and Jack's needs were ignored. For whatever reason, the firm was grossly inadequate in their handling of the divorce suit even allowing for it to enter into default; a fact they neglected to tell Jack until it was too late. The representation given by the firm was so poor that Jack's own ex-wife wrote to the courts complaining about their woeful behavior saying that Jack was, for all intents and purposes, representing himself. All that the firm managed to do was charge him an extra $25.00 an hour that they had agreed on.
Jack was rightfully angry over how he had been treated and took his case to the local, New Jersey State Supreme Court Attorney Ethics Committee. This would lead to even further problems for Jack since a partner of Maynard & Trudell actually served on the same Attorney Ethics committee: Robert Correale. Robert Correale's law firm's website listed Correale as not only being on the same committee, but listed Correale as their Vice-Chairman. This Robert Correale was the same lawyer who was supposed to serve on Jack's behalf in court but never once spoke and was obviously unprepared. Cunningham soon faced an enemy far more stealthy and far more cruel than that of the Viet Cong decades before. He was now going to take on the cold, faceless courts of New Jersey and, later, the Federal justice system.

The first response Jack received from the State Ethics Committee was one that simply stated that he should get a different law firm. This, of course, was far from satisfactory: what about the horrible representation Jack received by his law firm and, by extension, Robert Correale? A document, sent by Correale to the same Ethics committee that he was on the board of, defended his law firm. The ethics violations that Jack alleged were to be investigated by- of all people- Robert Correale!

In any other setting, this would be considered an extreme violation of the legal system. However, it was permitted. A series of questionable events would occur which illustrates the grave injustices that Jack has faced for over a decade. Correale would use his influence on the Ethics committee to remove himself and his law firm, Maynard & Truland from blame and, later, many court recordings related to a future law suit (mentioned below) "disappeared" before they could be officially transcribed. Finally, if that weren't enough, Correale mocked Jack's struggle with PTSD and brought up a lawsuit claiming that he owed his law firm a further $2,000.

The judge handling the law suit threw the suit out but not before adding that Jack gathered enough evidence to warrant another lawsuit for Legal Malpractice. These remarks could not be recovered when Jack was preparing for his counter suit. How all of this occurred seems like a wild conspiracy that could only be pure fiction but it's all true and it plagued Jack daily. Already reeling from a divorce and his ongoing struggles with PTSD, he had to deal with the bureaucratic nightmare of the New Jersey legal system. He was all alone in this fight just like so many times thirty years before in his CAP unit in Vietnam.

Soon, though, Jack wouldn't be alone. Many are familiar with the Marine Corps motto: "Semper Fi" which stands for "Semper Fidelis" which is Latin for "always faithful". Indeed, the Marines were always faithful to Jack. A number of the Marines he served with in the past- and a number of other vets who learned of his struggle- reassured him that he was NOT alone in his fight. For thirteen years, Jack led a letter writing campaign that went all the way up to then-governor James Mcgreevey who had the Office of Attorney Ethics to state that if Robert Correale were to use his position on the State Ethics board to investigate Jack's case it would be an ethics violation. This was a small victory for Jack but he went on. His letter writing campaign did not die down but he continued for justice. He would write to Governors Richard Codey, Jon Corzine, and the current Governor Chris Christie but there has still not been justice. Recently, in an even more bizarre twist, Robert Correale was cleared of any wrongdoing despite obvious perjury and malpractice although the case is now being taken to federal courts.

Jack's life has not been all bad, though. He remarried and has been with his wife Joan for fourteen years. He and his ex-wife Alice- who herself recognized the overwhelming odds Jack is up against- remain on friendly terms. As strange as it may sound to many, Jack and Joan have even been on a number of family vacations with his adult kids, their children and with his ex-wife. They all even spend holidays with his ex-wife throughout the year. He now resides in Sussex, New Jersey and is something of a local and internet celebrity, because of all of his successful veteran advocacy causes. He uses his data processing skills. One he is especially proud of is helping to save the USS ARIZONA Marine Remembrance Memorial at Pearl Harbor. (See Below)

His family only grew both in strength and in numbers during Jack's legal battles: he has five children and three step-children along with nine grandchildren. He continues his therapy for PTSD and has managed to keep ahead of his mental struggles. In February of this year, Jack finally received even more support for his efforts when a veterans foundation agreed to connect him to a team of pro bono lawyers for his future federal court case.

There is no argument about Jack's heroic military service. His actions were above and beyond the line of duty and he should be recognized for it rather than discredited as a crazy old man. The VA's motto comes from the words of Abraham Lincoln: "To care for him who shall have borne the battle" and these words should influence all of our attitudes to the soldiers who have returned home with even greater personal struggles in their future. Should our government- who swore to take on the responsibility of caring for every last soldier living or dead- be allowed to throw Jack to the curb? His story is just one of many other struggles that veterans have been forced to face , and it's a grave injustice that we can allow this to happen in this great country. So ask yourself this Veteran's Day: Should outrages like these be covered up and forgotten, or should they be used to open our country's eyes so our country's finest can be helped in the future?