SENATE SENIOR CITIZENS, VETERANS' AFFAIRS AND AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION No. 17

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MARCH 7, 1996

      The Senate Senior Citizens, Veterans' Affairs and Agriculture Committee reports favorably Senate Joint Resolution, No. 17.

      This joint resolution designates the Korean War Memorial Highway (Interstate Highway Route 287) as the Korean War Memorial Highway/Joseph Azzolina, Captain, Retired, U.S. Navy, as it passes through Somerset County and the Korean War Memorial Highway/Richard F. Lauer, Lt. Colonel, Retired, U.S. Army, as it passes through Middlesex County. Joint Resolution No. 3 of 1995, approved April 11, 1995, designates Interstate Highway Route 287 as the Korean War Memorial Highway with additional designations as the route passes through Bergen, Passaic and Morris counties in honor of three Korean War veterans and New Jersey residents who distinguished themselves during battle, with Ex POW and Army Staff Sergeant Walter Bray designated for the Bergen County portion of the highway, former U.S. Air Force gunner Clarence "Red" Mosley designated for the Passaic County portion of the highway, and former Marine Hector Cafferata, Jr. designated for the Morris County portion of the highway.

      Upon approval of Joint Resolution No. 3 of 1995, it was intended that two additional Korean War veterans and New Jersey residents who also distinguished themselves in battle, one each for Somerset and Middlesex counties, would be named at a later date by the Korean War Veterans of New Jersey, Inc., and who would then propose these two names for the additional designations for consideration by the Governor and Legislature.

      This joint resolution completes the additional designations for the "Korean War Memorial Highway" with the addition of Captain Azzolina and Colonel Lauer who are being proposed for consideration by the Korean War Veterans of New Jersey, Inc., with the intention that each of the five final additional designations would be represented by a living Korean War veteran from each of the four services of the U.S. Armed Forces, plus a living Korean War veteran who is a former prisoner of war, and that all five of these veterans would be a testament to all of those Korean War veterans, both living and deceased, being memorialized under this type of memorial dedication, the first memorial dedication of its kind.

      The resolution authorizes the Commissioner of Transportation to erect appropriate signs bearing the names of Captain Azzolina and Colonel Lauer in recognition of their service in the Korean War.