Friday, July 13, 2012

VIET VET MEMORIAL NEEDS TO ADD ANOTHER NAME?

 The News-Record on the new controversy:


The name of a Marine from Maplewood should be added to a township memorial honoring local servicemen killed in the Vietnam War, say a group of veterans, including the man’s brother.


Township officials are expected to make a recommendation next week regarding the request. The twist is that the serviceman in question died as the result of a car accident in New Jersey, not at war.

To Vietnam veteran Bruce Graber, that fact does not matter. The former Maplewood resident, four other veterans and a former township resident want to see Daniel J. Heffernan’s name go on the memorial located in Memorial Park.
They have cited the circumstances surrounding Heffernan’s death as one of the reasons his name belongs there.
Graber said Monday that Heffernan suffered a serious head injury in Vietnam requiring him to be transported back to the United States for medical treatment.

Heffernan, home for a visit on a weekend pass, died in July 1968 after being involved in a car accident on Columbia Turnpike in Florham Park, according to a news account at the time.

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