I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9997 

To name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient 

clinic in Toms River, New Jersey, the Leonard G. ’Bud’ Lomell, Jr. 

VA Clinic, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 18, 2024 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. VAN DREW, and 

Mr. KIM of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To name the Department of Veterans Affairs communitybased outpatient clinic in Toms River, New Jersey, the 

Leonard G. ’Bud’ Lomell, Jr. VA Clinic, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SEC. 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) The Township of Toms River, Ocean Coun6 ty, New Jersey, in the Fourth Congressional Dis7 trict, was designated as the site for the new Depart8 ment of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic, a stateVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Oct 24, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9997.IH H9997

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1 of-the-art facility serving the region’s large veteran 

2 population, to be located at the corner of Hooper 

3 and Caudina Avenues. 

4 (2) The Mayor and the Township Council be5 lieve that this facility deserves to be named in honor 

6 of Second Lieutenant Leonard G. ‘‘Bud’’ Lomell, 

7 Jr., a long time Toms River and Ocean County resi8 dent, who served courageously and heroically during 

9 World War II. 

10 (3) Second Lieutenant Lomell was born in 

11 1920, the adopted son of Scandinavian immigrant 

12 parents living in Brooklyn, New York, and his fam13 ily eventually moved to Point Pleasant Beach, New 

14 Jersey. 

15 (4) Second Lieutenant Lomell attended Ten16 nessee Wesleyan College, and following college, he 

17 enlisted in the Army, volunteering for the elite 

18 Ranger Corps, and was a member of the Second 

19 Rangers Battalion during the June 6, 1944, D-Day 

20 invasion, commanding his own platoon as First Ser21 geant. 

22 (5) Then-First Sergeant Lomell’s Platoon land23 ed at Pointe-du-Hoc, Normandy, France, a rugged 

24 100-foot-high coastal promenade along the English 

25 Channel coast located between the American-tarVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Oct 24, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9997.IH H9997

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1 geted Omaha and Utah beaches, successfully scaling 

2 the cliffs, despite a withering German defensive bar3 rage. 

4 (6) Pointe-du-Hoc was heavily defended by the 

5 Germans, and the mission of the 225 Rangers was 

6 to disable five 155-millimeter artillery guns, which 

7 could have rained artillery fire on the Americans 

8 landing on either beach, jeopardizing the invasion. 

9 (7) Unknown to the Americans, the guns had 

10 been moved from the tip of the Pointe and hidden, 

11 pointed in the direction of Utah Beach, in an inland 

12 apple orchard nearly a mile from the coastal bat13 teries. 

14 (8) First Sergeant Lomell and another Ranger, 

15 Sergeant Jack Kuhn, found the guns undefended, 

16 and with Kuhn providing cover, Lomell destroyed 

17 the weapons with thermite grenades and using his 

18 rifle butt to smash the sights, saving countless Allied 

19 lives. 

20 (9) First Sergeant Lomell subsequently received 

21 a battlefield promotion to Second Lieutenant, and 

22 was awarded some of the military’s highest honors, 

23 including the Distinguished Service Cross, Purple 

24 Heart, and Silver Star. 


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1 (10) Renowned historian Steven Ambrose re2 garded First Sergeant Lomell’s valiant acts along 

3 with General Eisenhower’s decision to invade on 

4 June 6, 1944, as the most significant actions ensur5 ing the Allied victory on D-Day. 

6 (11) Following World War II, Second Lieuten7 ant Lomell attended law school on the G.I. Bill, 

8 eventually settling with his family in Toms River 

9 and, in 1957, establishing his own law firm, which 

10 grew to become one of Ocean County’s largest. 

11 (12) Serving as selflessly in civilian life as he 

12 did in the military, Second Lieutenant Lomell was 

13 involved in numerous civic and charitable organiza14 tions, including by serving as president of the Ocean 

15 County Bar Association, a director of the First Na16 tional Bank of Toms River, a member of the Dover 

17 Township Board of Education, and as a founding 

18 member of the World War II Army Rangers Bat19 talion Association. 

20 (13) Second Lieutenant Lomell is profiled in 

21 the Greatest Generation, former NBC news Anchor 

22 Tom Brokaw’s testament to the heroes of World 

23 War II. 

24 (14) As a decorated war hero, model citizen, 

25 and dedicated husband and father, Second LieutenVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:01 Oct 24, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9997.IH H9997

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1 ant Lomell is exceedingly deserving of the post2 humous honor of having a new and long-awaited 

3 Toms River-based Department of Veterans Affairs 

4 outpatient clinic named in his honor. 

5 SEC. 2. NAME OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 

6 COMMUNITY-BASED OUTPATIENT CLINIC, 

7 TOMS RIVER, NEW JERSEY. 

8 The community-based outpatient clinic of the Depart9 ment of Veterans Affairs in Toms River, New Jersey, shall 

10 after the date of the enactment of this Act be known and 

11 designated as the ‘‘Leonard G. ‘Bud’ Lomell, Jr. VA Clin12 ic’’. Any reference to such clinic in any law, regulation, 

13 map, document, record, or other paper of the United 

14 States shall be considered to be a reference to the Leonard 

15 G. ‘‘Bud’’ Lomell, Jr. VA Clinic. 

Æ 


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