The House vote comes after months of wrangling to get the naming moved forward. It had appeared to be ready to happen in the days leading up to the ribbon-cutting at the facility in November 2024, but was not finalized in time.
The bill, in naming the community-based outpatient clinic in his honor, also memorializes Lomell’s heroic military service and countless civilian contributions. You can read the full bill here.
Lomell was one of the most highly decorated combat soldiers of World War II, receiving the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Legion of Honor medals.
He was 24 when the Allies landed troops at Normandy on D-Day. As a U.S. Army first sergeant in D Company, 2nd Ranger Infantry Battalion, he led a group of Rangers who scaled 100-foot cliffs at Pointe du Hoc to destroy the Germans’ 155-millimeter artillery guns — guns that had a range of 10-15 miles that threatened the invasion — that were believed to be at the top of the cliffs.
Lomell, who was wounded by a stray bullet in his side, and his group pushed forward with their mission despite heavy casualties and injuries and successfully destroyed all the Germans’ concealed artillery guns with thermite grenades, saving countless lives and ensuring Allied success during the D-Day invasion.
“First Sergeant Lomell’s bold and outstanding leadership in the face of superior numbers is in keeping with the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army,” Smith said in his speech on the House floor asking for passage of the resolution.
Lomell’s heroics were later heralded in the book “The Greatest Generation” by Tom Brokaw, who devoted an entire chapter to Lomell.
He also served in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, where he and his fellow servicemen in the D company helped to capture and defend the infamous Hill 400. Lomell was wounded at Hurtgen and again in the Battle of the Bulge, resulting in his honorable discharge in December 1945.
Lomell, who died in 2011 at 91 years old, grew up in Point Pleasant Beach and graduated from Point Pleasant Beach High School, graduated from Tennessee Wesleyan College in 1941. He returned to New Jersey, then shortly afterward enlisted in the Army.
After he was discharged from the Army in 1945, Lomell returned to New Jersey and married his long-term girlfriend, Charlotte Ewart (who was a public health nurse), and the couple settled in Toms River. They raised their three daughters — Georgine, Pauline, and Renee — along with Elizabeth “Buffy” and Jay Bergson, the children of Charlotte’s sister, who had passed away unexpectedly.
Lomell attended and graduated from Rutgers Law School and had a highly successful legal career, founding and acting as the senior member of the Lomell Law Firm. The firm was one of the largest and most successful in Ocean County. He also served as the president of the Ocean County Bar Association.
Lomell also was appointed to serve as the first director of the newly organized Ocean County Veterans Service Bureau, where he assisted veterans with their transition to civilian life.
He served as a director of the First National Bank of Toms River; director of the South Jersey Title Insurance Company, Atlantic City; president of the Garden State Philharmonic Symphony Society; director of the Ocean County Historical Society; trustee of the Ocean County College Foundation; chairman of the Dover Township Juvenile Conference Committee; and was a member of the Dover Township Board of Education.
The 68,000-square-foot state-of-the-art VA clinic in Toms River provides primary care and specialty care, dental care, women’s health care, mental health counseling, physical therapy, and laboratory services.
Smith said he hopes the clinic naming can be finalized soon.
Lomell’s wife, Charlotte, turns 104 in September, “and she and her family deeply loved Bud and continue to deeply cherish his memory,” Smith said. “I spoke to Bud’s youngest daughter Renee on the phone this morning and they are very pleased that Congress is poised to honor him.”
“It is only fitting that a clinic that has already done so much for our community be named after a true war hero who dedicated his life to the service of his country and its veterans,” Smith said.
“As President Reagan famously put it in his speech at Pointe du Hoc, the men who invaded Normandy, including and most especially Bud Lomell, ‘had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next,’ ” Smith said in his floor speech. “They were ‘the men who took the cliffs.’ They were ‘the champions who helped free a continent.’ They were ‘the heroes who helped end a war.’ In enduring gratitude to them, Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in bestowing this posthumous honor on Second Lieutenant Bud Lomell.”
