To name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic to be constructed in Toms River, New Jersey, the Leonard G. 'Bud' Lomell, Jr. VA Clinic, and for other purposes.
Bill: H.R.7944 | Sponsor: Rep. Smith, Christopher H. (R-NJ)
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
This bill designates the community-based outpatient clinic of the Department of Veterans Affairs to be constructed in Toms River, New Jersey, as the Leonard G. "Bud" Lomell, Jr. VA Clinic.

To name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient 
  clinic to be constructed in Toms River, New Jersey, the Leonard G. 
          'Bud' Lomell, Jr. VA Clinic, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Township of Toms River, New Jersey, was recently 
        designated as the site for the new Department of Veterans 
        Affairs outpatient clinic, a state-of-the-art facility serving 
        the region's large veteran population, to be located at the 
        corner of Hooper and Caudina Avenues, and expected to be 
        completed and functioning in 2023.
            (2) The Mayor and the Township Council believe that this 
        facility deserves to be named in honor of Second Lieutenant 
        Leonard G. ``Bud'' Lomell, Jr., a long time Toms River and 
        Ocean County resident, who served courageously and heroically 
        during World War II.
            (3) Second Lieutenant Lomell was born in 1920, the adopted 
        son of Scandinavian immigrant parents living in Brooklyn, New 
        York, and his family eventually moved to Point Pleasant Beach, 
        New Jersey.
            (4) Second Lieutenant Lomell attended Tennessee Wesleyan 
        College, and following college, he enlisted in the Army, 
        volunteering for the elite Ranger Corps, and was a member of 
        the Second Rangers Battalion during the June 6, 1944, D-Day 
        invasion, commanding his own platoon as First Sergeant.
            (5) Then-First Sergeant Lomell's Platoon landed at Pointe-
        du-Hoc, Normandy, France, a rugged 100-foot high coastal 
        promenade along the English Channel coast located between the 
        American-targeted Omaha and Utah beaches, successfully scaling 
        the cliffs, despite a withering German defensive barrage.
            (6) Pointe-du-Hoc was heavily defended by the Germans, and 
        the mission of the 225 Rangers was to disable five 155 
        millimeter artillery guns, which could have rained artillery 
        fire on the Americans landing on either beach, jeopardizing the 
        invasion.
            (7) Unknown to the Americans, the guns had been moved from 
        the tip of the Pointe and hidden, pointed in the direction of 
        Utah Beach, in an inland apple orchard nearly a mile from the 
        coastal batteries.
            (8) First Sergeant Lomell and another Ranger, Sergeant Jack 
        Kuhn, found the guns undefended, and with Kuhn providing cover, 
        Lomell destroyed the weapons with thermite grenades and using 
        his rifle butt to smash the sights, saving countless Allied 
        lives.
            (9) First Sergeant Lomell subsequently received a 
        battlefield promotion to Second Lieutenant, and was awarded 
        some of the military's highest honors, including the 
        Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart, and Silver Star.
            (10) Renowned historian Steven Ambrose regarded First 
        Sergeant Lomell's valiant acts along with General Eisenhower's 
        decision to invade on June 6, 1944, as the most significant 
        actions ensuring the Allied victory on D-Day.
            (11) Following World War II, Second Lieutenant Lomell 
        attended law school on the G.I. Bill, eventually settling with 
        his family in Toms River and, in 1957, establishing his own law 
        firm, which grew to become one of Ocean County's largest.
            (12) Serving as selflessly in civilian life as he did in 
        the military, Second Lieutenant Lomell was involved in numerous 
        civic and charitable organizations, including by serving as 
        president of the Ocean County Bar Association, a director of 
        the First National Bank of Toms River, a member of the Dover 
        Township Board of Education, and as a founding member of the 
        World War II Army Rangers Battalion Association.
            (13) Second Lieutenant Lomell is profiled in the Greatest 
        Generation, former NBC news Anchor Tom Brokaw's testament to 
        the heroes of World War II.
            (14) As a decorated war hero, model citizen, and dedicated 
        husband and father, Second Lieutenant Lomell is exceedingly 
        deserving of the posthumous honor of having a new and long 
        awaited Toms River-based Department of Veterans Affairs 
        outpatient clinic named in his honor.

SEC. 2. NAME OF DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMUNITY-BASED 
              OUTPATIENT CLINIC, TOMS RIVER, NEW JERSEY.

     The Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient 
clinic to be constructed in Toms River, New Jersey, shall after the 
date of the enactment of this Act be known and designated as the 
``Leonard G. `Bud' Lomell, Jr. VA Clinic''. Any reference to such 
clinic in any law, regulation, map, document, record, or other paper of 
the United States shall be considered to be a reference to the Leonard 
G. ``Bud'' Lomell, Jr. VA Clinic.
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