Decades after service, Camden County honors veterans

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (WPVI) -- Six veterans from Spring Hills Assisted Living in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, were awarded Camden County Military Service Medals Monday at a special ceremony honoring the sacrifices they made decades ago.

"I think it's nice to have it after all these years," said Herb Stevens, medal recipient.

"I am so thrilled they awarded me that medal. It brings back some memories," said Eugene Venuto, medal recipient.

Helping to present the medals was Gold Star mother Melinda Kane, whose son Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremy Kane was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

"It is our duty and our honor and privilege in this nation to give back to these men," said Kane, Camden Co. Veterans Affairs.

Some of the medal recipients were just teenagers when they served. Fifty, 60, 70 years later they still vividly remember their service - sometimes with heartbreak, always with pride.

"Forgive me, I get very emotional when I think about it or talk about it. But that's what's really significant, the young man that we left there," said Maurice Karen, Korean War Veteran.

"They were just wiped out. The only ones left were the wounded," said Arthur Seltzer, World War II veteran.

Arthur Seltzer was in the second wave of soldiers hitting Omaha Beach on D-Day 1944.

"If they are in the military and they've given a part of their life then I think they should be honored," said Seltzer.

"It's enough to make you blow your top. What do you mean you're not gonna vote?" said Ed Greenfield, World War II veteran.

Army veteran Ed Greenfield served in Germany during World War II. He's thinking about Tuesday's election and says American soldiers fought and died to protect our right to vote.

"If you don't get out there and exercise what we fought for," said Greenfield.

Greenfield thinks voting honors the service of these old soldiers as much as any medal.