by Don Gonyea
June 8, 2013
...His military service (click here) was a recurring theme in tributes this week. At a service on Wednesday, Vice President Biden delivered a eulogy: "I'm told the first time ... he ever left the New Jersey/New York region was ... when he joined the United States Army at age 18. Was shipped out. When he came back, he'd proudly tell you — anyone who would listen — he went to Columbia. He just didn't go to school; he went to Columbia."
Lautenberg grew up poor and used the brand-new GI Bill to attend that prestigious university. Speaking with the Scripps Howard News Service in 2011, he said his time in the military helped him understand the need to give something to your country.
"Veterans became presidents. Veterans became senators, titans of business," he said. "The experience of sharing risk, of depending on someone else for your life, of being able to offer someone else support for their lives, changes the attitude."...
