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Anthony R. Smid pins medals on USAF Staff Sgt. Bill Tjaden’s dress uniform as NJ state Assemblyman Bob Schroeder looks on
In addition to the Distinguished Service Medal and the Vietnam Service Medal, state Assemblyman Bob Schroeder gave Tjaden citations from U.S. Congressman Scott Garrett, state Assemblywoman Charlotte Vandervalk, the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and himself.
Mayor John Szabo also spoke about Tjaden’s long history of service to the Oakland community, while giving the longtime volunteer firefighter a plaque from the borough honoring him.
Oakland Fire Chief Robert Knapp helped coordinate the ceremony, attended by more than a dozen department firefighters who stood with big smiles along the back wall of the Municipal Court chamber.
“It was an honor to be able to publicly thank Staff Sergeant Tjaden for his years of brave service to our country, and to finally present him with the medals he so justly earned,” said Schroeder, a longtime volunteer firefighter himself, who stepped in when he discovered the oversight.
Tjaden, 62, told CLIFFVIEW PILOT he couldn’t make the original ceremony at which he was supposed to receive the medals for his duty with the U.S. Air Force’s 353rd Tactical Fighter Squadron in Vietnam. He said he was promised they’d arrive in the mail, but they didn‘t.
“After waiting for several months, I sent an email to the Veteran’s Administration but never heard from them again,” Tjaden told the web site.
Schroeder’s legislative office was contacted, calls went out, and last week the assemblyman and his staff collected the honors. Schroeder also gathered the citations, while Knapp contacted borough officials and members of the local firefighters association for whom Tjaden served as president for four years.
In keeping with the tradition of service medals being bestowed from veteran to veteran, fellow firefighter Anthony R. Smid pinned the honors on Tjaden’s dress uniform, and the crowd erupted in applause.
Tjaden, who has three adult children and two grandchildren, was born in Passaic and lived in Clifton and Fair Lawn before his parents settled in Mahwah. He joined the U.S. Air Force while still in high school as part of the Delayed Enlistment Program. After graduating from Mahwah High School in 1968, he began basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
He served as an Administrative Specialist at Lockbourne AFB in Columbus, Ohio and at Myrtle Beach AFB in South Carolina – from where the 353rd Tactical Fighter Squadron was sent to Korat Royal Thai AFB in Thailand to provide air support for ground troops in Vietnam.
The government awarded Tjaden the Vietnam Service Medal and The Republic of Vietnam Commendation Medal. His unit also received the Presidential Unit Citation for its service in Southeast Asia.
Tjaden was honorably discharged from the Air Force with the rank of Staff Sergeant in February 1973. He eventually settled in Oakland in 1980 with his wife, Valerie, and raised two children, Mike and Rebecca. He joined the Oakland Fire Department in 1995 and served three years as Company 1’s fire mechanic.
Dealing with health problems, Tjaden last fall “retired” from the Oakland department, changing his status to “Active Life Member.” Uneasiness continued into April, when the Russ Berrie Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection, costing Valerie Tjaden her job.
But the couple got good news — first with word that the medals were on their way and then when test results showed that the removal of a tumor in March likely saved Tjaden’s life.
“I’m amazed that Mr Schroeder’s office was able to do in a couple of days what I couldn’t do in a few years,” Tjaden told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “I’m very grateful.”
NJ State Assemblyman Bob Schroeder, Bill & Valerie Tjaden, Oakland Mayor John Szabo (PHOTOS by Lisa Volpe Yakomin for CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM)
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