{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413395", "Patch News article on Rep. Smith bill:'New VA Clinic To Be Named For Toms River World War 2 Hero Lomell'", "2024-10-22", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher H. Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", "chrissmith", "https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentquery.aspx", "scraper", "Reps. Chris Smith and Andy Kim promised local officials including then-mayor Maurice Hill to see to it that Lomell was honored with the clinic naming. Smith introduced HR 9997 to do just that. The legislation is cosponsored by Kim, Rep. Jeff Van Drew of the 2nd District, and Rep. Donald Norcross of the 1st District.\n\n\"A decorated war hero and upstanding citizen, Bud Lomell sacrificed so much for our country and courageously led his platoon during the D-Day invasion of Normandy,\" Smith said in announcing the legislation \"It is only fitting that the new modern health care facility in Toms River that will serve so many of our Nation\u2019s heroes living in our community be named after one of our very own heroes from Ocean County.\"\n\nSmith had represented Toms River and Brick for years until a redistricting moved those towns out of the 4th District. He led the fight to build the James J. Howard VA outpatient clinic in Brick in the 1980s.\n\nKim, who represents the 3rd District, had helped fight for the new clinic in Toms River since he was elected in 2018. Toms River and Brick were in the 3rd District until 2023, following the 2022 election when redistricting shifted the two towns (and others) back to Smith's district.\n\nLomell was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his valor and leadership while scaling the cliffs of Pointe Du Hoc in a critical and highly difficult mission to disable an installment of German heavy guns. He later earned a Silver Star for his actions to capture and secure Hill 400 in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, during which he led the Rangers in defending the hilltop against a German counterattack, even after being severely wounded.\n\nAfter serving our nation overseas, Lomell returned home to Ocean County and became President of the Ocean County Bar Association, a director of the First National Bank of Toms River, and a member of the then Dover Township Board of Education. He died of natural causes in 2011 at his Toms River home.\n\nThe new Toms River clinic is a 68,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility located on Hooper Avenue. It replaces the Howard clinic, which opened in 1990 but can no longer accommodate the large number of veterans in the area.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413395"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1353748850524426, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}