Veterans
A salute to our
In honor of Veterans Day, we dedicate this tribute to
Retired Local 600 and highlight some of the members
that have served their country with the same dedication
and passion they have served New Jersey.
‘Give me tomorrow’
n BY JENNIFER TRATTLER
Vietnam Veterans like Local 600 President Tom Lombardi visit the New
Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Holmdel – the only state Vietnam
memorial in the country – to reflect on their wartime service and remember their fallen brothers.
“It’s part of our therapy,” explained Lombardi. “We go to the wall and
take names of people we served with. It’s part of the healing. It brings
back bad memories but you have to go.”
The self-described “immature” 18-year-old decided to forgo a scholarship at Farleigh Dickinson University to play baseball, instead enlisting
in the U.S. Army in 1966 before his number was called in the draft.
“When you’re 18 or 19-years-old, you can do anything. That’s what I
thought,” recalled Lombardi. “For me, it was one of the better things I’ve
done, joining the service.”
Lombardi served two tours of duty in
Vietnam from 1967-1968, his first
assigned to the Infantry Security Force
patrolling the grounds and his second
as a machine gunner in a helicopter. He
recorded 700 hours of flight time, and
received 26 air medals and two Purple
Hearts during his service.
He was awarded a Purple Heart for a
wound suffered during the Tet
Offensive of January 1968 when 70,000
Viet Cong forces coordinated a series of
surprise attacks on more than 100 cities
in South Vietnam. His troop was tasked
with protecting a communications station, and was wounded during the twohour battle when bunker was bombed.
“I was scared all the time,” confessed
Lombardi. “If someone says they
weren’t afraid, if they were in combat, it
was a lie. They ask ‘will you die for your country?’ I didn’t want to die for
my country; but I’ll die for the guy on my left and right.”
The second Purple Heart recognition came during a mission to evacuate a Green Beret squad that w \