'LAW AND DISORDER' FOR THE CONNECTED-ELITE AND POWERFUL IN THIS STATE

19 year old soldier targeted, brutally beaten

'LAW AND DISORDER' FOR THE CONNECTED-ELITE AND POWERFUL IN THIS STATE

John "Jack" Cunningham always wanted to serve in the Marines and served he did. Just one month after he graduated from the revered New York City's Power Memorial Academy he volunteered for service. He had grown up watching patriotic films on television about the heroism of America's military in conflicts like World War II and Korea; his older brothers had served in the military: one in the US Army, the other in the Navy. A brother-in-law, who Jack was close to, served in the Marines during the Korean War in the 1st Marine Division at the Chosin Reservoir - "The Frozen Chosin".

At 18 years old, the skinny New York City boy thought he knew so much. His high school, Power Memorial had boys from around the city and from around the world. He was about to learn more though; much of it things that no eighteen years-old should never know. Jack knew the battle was going to be intense, with many hardships and violence, but he didn't know it was going to be as traumatic, rewardless, and somewhat disgraceful when he came home. This was a different and especially unique time for America's fighting men and women. The parades of honor and respect were no more. This type of negative attitude toward our military would last for many decades... And Jack, like so many other Vietnam Era vets, were about to learn it the hard way. They were going to fight this war alone.

Eventually, Jack's dream of serving in the Marines came true and he went to boot camp at Parris Island (famous for its depiction in Kubrick's take on Vietnam Full Metal Jacket). After his training, Jack, who was now nineteen, was sent to California where he received orders from the Combined Action Program (CAP): he was to go to special training school in Da Nang. Jack had watched war movies when he was younger but this wasn't a movie on tv; this was Vietnam.   He had no idea that he would endure a number of life-altering experiences that would be jammed into one short year, but he wanted to serve for America like so many brave and honorable Americans before him and, like all Marines, he was extremely proud of his Marine uniform picture that he earned while in Parris Island Marine Boot Camp.

The small CAP units- the ones he served with- served round the clock in Vietnamese villages where they defended the villagers from various levels of terrorist attacks. The young American Marines used their weapons of war, but they also used friendship and kindness just as much and at times, even more. The warriors treated the people using fundamental human instincts and character and were aptly nicknamed "the Peace Corps volunteers with rifles." The goal of these American Marines were to teach the peasants a better way to fish and farm, not hand them fish and rice. This truth was the complete opposite image of our military, what the American news media was highlighting every night.

Eventually the truth about the Marine Corps' Combined Action Program became far more ominous: many times, CAPs were killed almost as soon as they were replaced. The tiny units consisting of only a handful of Marines and a U.S. Navy Corpsman per village were attacked often and without warning.

The U.S. Navy Corpsman were special and unique. They were there for caring for the Marines, but also the daily, long line of Vietnamese villagers needing regular health care. The Marines, including Jack, helped with bandaids and giving babies soap baths. Villagers with more complicated health conditions would be sent to a Marine base by helicopter or Jeep. Regardless of the health condition, payment was nothing more than a smile. For the young Americans supplying the health care, it was like a new TV episode of MASH everyday. No Vietnamese peasant was ever turned away, and many friendships on both sides were formed. The United States Navy Corpsmen became popular village celebrities. Jack even heard years after the war that one Navy CAP Corpsman, Doc O'Brien personally paid for his village's school to be built.

At first the CAPs consisted of Marines who volunteered for the units, but as more and more horrifying stories of violence, brutal conflict, and high casualties began to spread, Marines had to be assigned. For some CAP Teams, they were known as Suicide Squads and for most CAP units, they did not even have a full squad of Marines living in their village. On paper, the teams were a little more than a fortified squad.

Jack was assigned to the Duc Duc resettlement village where conflict almost immediately greeted him. There were many times where death was certain- times that many of us who have never been in the heat of battle could ever understand. There is no question of Jack's and the other CAPs bravery. Like in all wars, for most Americans in Vietnam bravery was routine. Unfortunately, stories of Cap units stretched far too thin, beating the odds, and saving the lives of villagers are hardly told. Far more people know of the tragedies like the massacre of My Lai village where it was the atrocities of Americans rather than the many stories of those like Jack's. The American News Media and Hollywood became extremely rich from pushing fake news stories and lies about the military's callous treatment of the Vietnamese. Most American people would believe what ever the news media and Hollywood put out. After all, why would they lie...

Viet Cong terrorists loved using the tools of extreme violence on innocent village people. To the communists, everything was terrorism. The more vicious, random and heartless the attacks were on innocent people, the more control they had over the families of the village, and only the small American Marine CAP Teams stood in their way.

The Duc Duc Resettlement (Refugee) Village that Jack's CAP 2-9-2 unit defended had a population in the thousands while, with the exception of a handful of villagers who fought alongside the Americans, there were just on average of eight marines and as few as four at any given time. Four teenage Americans in a Vietnamese peasant-farming village of thousands. There were no 'safe-places' for these American college-age kids. But the Marines were not looking for any safe places. They were there to help and protect innocent people like American service men and women have always done throughout our country's history.

The confusion of which villagers were sympathetic to the US forces and which were sympathetic to the Communists created a situation rife with paranoia. There were constant rumors of communists infiltrating the village. Communications between the CAPs and the villagers was often mangled by language barriers. Enemy propaganda circulated constantly exploiting the CAPs obvious vulnerabilities, especially the size of the units. Threats of the units being wiped out were almost daily. Intelligent reports of hundreds of communists coming to attack the Marines and village kept everyone on extreme edge. Regardless of the bigger odds facing them, the village-Americans were there to protect the innocent people. They were true to their motto: "Semper Fi- Always Faithful". By then, it was in their blood.

Jack was wounded three different times in and around his village of Duc Duc. He received one Purple Heart, because the other two wounds were minor. During one of his units' daily patrol's, he stepped on a large booby trap that never exploded. During one intense combat action outside the village, Jack's buddy George Dros of Burlington Flats, NY credited Jack with saving his life and that of two other Marines when Jack intentionally made himself a target for Viet Cong terrorists in order to save his three buddies. During the attack, Jack switched weapons between his M-79 grenade launcher to his buddy's M-60 machine gun and another buddy's M-16 rifle. He did this in the hope of giving the terrorists the illusion that he was the better target. It worked. The terrorists concentrated all their fire on Jack, and his buddies were able to be saved. His brothers made it. That is all that Jack cared about.

However many times, Jack's worst moments weren't during heat of battle but the rare moments of calm when he could actually process what was going on: the fear of attacks at any moment and the paranoia that the enemy might be hiding amongst the same people he was trying to protect. Beyond that was the bigger picture: he didn't know who he was fighting or why he was fighting. Back home, his generation and many others were divided between those who had their doubts but didn't voice disrespect and those who protested violently. In May 1970, the shooting deaths of four anti-war protesting students at Kent State made this same mental conflict even worse as the line between countrymen and enemies blurred even further.

This extreme stress and pressure at such a vulnerable time left a permanent impression on Jack. The fact that the local communists had a bounty on each of the Americans' heads added to it. The uncertainty of enemy attacks, the frustration with the treatment of his own countrymen, and- most importantly- the confusion over what the ultimate goal was with the war created the perfect storm in his head. At this time, Jack's unit was shocked to find a Viet Cong tunnel that contained $5,000 in American green currency, $3,000 in military currency, and- most painful of all- boxes of clothing donated by students from the Berkley University in California. Students the same age as Jack were protesting and supporting the very enemy killing off Marines and Vietnamese peasants left and right. As small a gesture as the clothing was, it was the worst stab in the back Jack could have ever gotten from his peers back home in America. He felt that he and his buddies were being betrayed by those who should have been supporting them. Jack felt very alone.   He wondered how World War II veterans felt, when they were battling in their war.

On July 17, 1970, Jack was part of a five Marine patrol outside his village that got pinned down and surrounded for hours. Another CAP Team from another village had to come to their rescue. However, it too got pinned down. Marine helicopter gunships and two Navy F-4 fighter jets were forced to bail out both CAP Teams.

In August 1970, an event would occur that would create the 'Survivors Guilt' which would never leave him the same again. After switching patrols one morning with another Marine, Robert J. Pierce, a surprise attack would result in his replacement losing his legs then dying from the blood loss. Before dying, Robert was calling out to his mother and his brother Marines. With his tour of duty almost over, Robert was scheduled to leave Vietnam in a week.   The tragic death would be one that stood out amongst the many other bloody incidents during Jack's time in Vietnam. In his mind, he was at fault rather than the enemy. If he hadn't switched patrols, Robert Pierce would be alive. Jack would remain haunted by the death long after he was safe from the daily horrors of the war.

Around the time of Pierce's death, Jack would receive news and clippings that the Vietnam War veteran memorial in his hometown of Rosedale, Queens had been vandalized twice by protesters. The anti-military protesters attacked by night like communist the Viet Cong terrorists. The names of the town's eight Vietnam War dead were desecrated with tar and black paint. Like all of the other anti-military, and anti-veteran attacks that Jack was hearing about while serving in his village, the attack on his hometown's veteran memorial was taken personally. He had attended the dedication of this same memorial himself on Memorial Day 1968 less than two years before serving. Later in 2002, Jack built a simple website to the Rosedale Vietnam Veteran Memorial showing the newspaper pictures of the anti-veteran attack.

Already bitter, this information served to only rub more salt in Jack's wounds. Many of today's patriots would almost feel the pain he was under. Jack was still alone. But he knew he still had to do his job even while conditions worsened when word began to spread that the CAPs were going to pull out of the area. The villagers felt betrayed and their relations with the Marines cooled considerably. Night watches consisting of constant wakefulness left Jack and his Marine buddies perpetually exhausted. Any wrong move meant death; any wrong action meant further ostracizing from the villagers. His very sanity became a delicate tightrope as the extreme conditions weighed down everyone around him.
Finally, President Nixon's withdrawals of the troops freeing Jack from his torment. He left in February 1971 but leaving the battlegrounds would be bittersweet. A few months later in March and April, successive Viet Cong attacks destroyed to ashes the Duc Duc resettlement village killing hundreds of the same villagers Jack had previously been tasked to protect.   The massacre of Duc Duc left him with another lasting impression. He had many Vietnamese friends in the village and some good Marines died over the years to protect it. He wanted people to know the real truth.   Years after the war Jack would build a number of websites and webpages dedicated to the village and the Marines who died.   Although the physical wounds that he received protecting the village were minor, he left a major part of himself in Duc Duc.

Jack returned to the United States with the memories of the war, and stupid questions of how many babies he was forced to kill and did he ever have to burn his village down, but as time went on, they seemed to fade away. There were some events in the future that would create even more emotional turmoil: the fall of Saigon in 1975 would be especially painful as he recounts how he felt when he learned the news: "A lot of sadness and a lot of anger, even rage. I felt everything was a pure waste." To put the 1975 fall of Vietnam into perspective, just thirty years before, America was celebrating the triumphant victory of the Allied forces against the Axis. Now, nearly forty years after the fall, many veterans of the Iraq War know a similar bitterness when the country they fought to liberate fell into the hands of ISIS.

Life began to slowly go back to normal. Jack settled on Long Island, eventually moved to northwestern New Jersey, started a family, and began a career programming, analyzing and, later, managing computer systems at Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in Manhattan. His experience with the military proved to be useful for him as he became increasingly more successful. By the 1980s, life was good for Jack. He was thought highly of by his supervisors, senior management, his peers and was responsible for up to 17 employees. Although he had more employees on his computer staff than in his CAP Team, Jack began to think of his team of computer programmers and analysts as his own CAP Team. His Subscriber Data Processing Team were now his buddies. And he protected them just like he did his CAP buddies. His co-workers were like his brothers and sisters.

He became a project manager making a great salary. To many in the large company of over 10,000 employees, he was Mr. Cunningham. To himself, though, he was still just Jack. The job was somewhat stressful but he handled it well before things began to change unexpectedly in 1985. Stress from the job was starting to trigger some intense memories of the village and 'Survivors Guilt' started drawing its ugly head.

In 1980, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was added to the DSM-III by the American Psychiatric Association. PTSD has since become closely associated with veterans from Vietnam and for good reason: 31% are believed to suffer from it. While the severity of the condition can vary from patient to patient, it can be debilitating for those who have it worst. PTSD can manifest itself in minor ways for years as anxiety or intrusive flashbacks with very little effect on a patient's day to day life. Sometimes, years can pass before it causes serious issues as was the case with Jack, who began to experience serious problems around 1985 but managed to keep working for sometime while his condition slowly deteriorated.

At the time, like many other Vietnam vets, Jack kept his thoughts, memories and feelings to himself. Socially, he started to isolate, but he still was able to work at a high level.   Since he was having memories of the war almost everyday, Jack started writing down his experiences from serving in the Combined Action Program (CAP). In a short period of time, he ended up writing 8 short stories of his village life. He was writing about war, but more importantly, he felt he was writing about family- his brothers.

Breaking through the stigma of PTSD was extremely hard. Besides, no one really wanted to talk to Vietnam vets about the war and Vietnam vets did not want to talk to people who could not understand or relate. Thanks to Hollywood, certain news-hound-celebrities, the news media and even some politicians, the image of PTSD Vietnam vets scared many in the general public. The caricature of Vietnam veterans as lunatic baby-killers and village-burners was still fresh in many Americans' minds. Jack's feelings of being alone became stronger. To fight the negative feelings and images, Jack started letting family and friends at work read his short stories.   To his utter amazement people liked them and found them extremely interesting. Many people asked to read all 8 stories. Based on the feedback from readers, he started to think that maybe he could help change the negative image of Vietnam vets. Jack wanted to fight back. He didn't think that he was a hero, but he strongly felt that he served with heroes. There were over two million real heroes that served in Vietnam. Besides, having people read the experiences and stories was much easier than talking about them.

With the grace of God and prayer, Jack finally reached out to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Using federal Veterans Administration's (VA) medications and therapy to cope, Jack carried on with life as usual, but with each year his memories weighed him down further. Finally, in 1989, he was no longer able to work. It is common with many who suffer from PTSD- like symptoms including severe forms of anxiety or depression- to become chronically unemployed due to the difficulties their condition imposes on them. In this day and age, there is far more leeway for someone with a mental illness to get help and recognition. In 1989, however, many people's knowledge of PTSD came from movies like First Blood where the main character John Rambo suffers from a psychotic break due to his experiences in Vietnam. PTSD veterans had been stereotyped as crazy and able to snap at any time. This belief caused many sufferers to remain in the shadows because of the fear of being ostracized for their shortcomings. Far to often, brave and honorable veterans with PTSD were judged for the false and weak images of the stigma of PTSD. Many professional people say that tens-of-thousands took their own lives, because of it.

While Jack did seek help, he didn't get better. However, he continued his writing about his Vietnamese village life and his brothers-in-green.   He felt that Hollywood needed to tell the truth about Vietnam veterans. He started to write to Hollywood movers and shakers. Although he received a number of autographed pictures from stars, he did receive two very promising responses from two of his heroes: Actor Jimmy Stewart and Movie Director John Huston.   Jack started calling his writing project CAProductions.    He added it to the internet in March 2001. He wanted it all non-profit. He wanted the truth out about America's Vietnam vets and that is all he cared about.

Twice Jack would be hospitalized at VA facilities in 1986 and 1987 for PTSD; both times, he was sent gifts and support by his employees and friends. He seemed to have good support but in 1989, the memories of friends' deaths during the war created intense survivor's guilt. This, along with life's stresses, created the perfect storm. Oftentimes, those with PTSD will not experience worrisome symptoms until they've gone through an extended illness like pneumonia or influenza; others won't have symptoms until they enter a period of extreme stress like having issues at work or with family. With Jack, his own thoughts became his worst enemy. As the good memories started flooding back into Jack's head, the bad memories came just as fast. He had no switch or filters to regulate his thoughts. He could no longer function.

Jack would continue in this way until 1996 around the time of the birth of his fifth child. During this time, he wrote four movie scripts to keep busy. His first one was about his experiences in Duc Duc, about the loss of his friend and his own survivors guilt dealing with it. His second script was about a Vietnam vet dealing with PTSD during the 1st Gulf War. His third and fourth scripts were total fiction about young teenagers and ghosts who come to their rescue. He did the last two to were get away from war, but writing them did not help at all.

He had to be again hospitalized in a VA hospital for nearly four months because of PTSD which obviously caused problems in his personal life. The loss of two older sisters each to cancer within two years did not help. As his mental state tore him apart, his domestic life caused him further pain. In 1999, Jack's wife filed for divorce. The divorce suit would be only the beginning of his struggle for justice as lawsuit after lawsuit exposed the corruption of the New Jersey justice system.

Since the 9-11 terrorist attacks, most of America's hearts and minds were open to the sacrifices and truths of America's Vietnam Veterans. Jack's writing goal of trying to improve the image of Vietnam vets was no longer necessary.   The truth was coming out on its own. But Jack still wanted to follow through. He loved writing, especially young fiction dealing with ghosts and totems. Stories of hope, family, communities, inspiration, history and inner strength. His last script he called "The Spirit Lives On."

Now, as the plaintiff, the Marine vet was facing a new battle with the New Jersey courts as the defendant.   A battle even more intense than he ever fought in. In the end, Jack would want federal criminal corruption and fraud charges brought against a number of high level New Jersey Supreme Court lawyers for protecting one of their own
*
To handle his divorce suit, Jack hired a locally well-known, law firm out of Morristown, New Jersey, Maynard & Truland, LLC. When he hired Maynard & Trumand he did not know they were so well-known, powerful and state-wide influential (for themselves). Like most fathers, he informed the law firm partner Joe Truland and his divorce attorney that his greatest concern was to get fair custody rights for his two minor children. He also informed them in detail that he was PTSD-disabled from heavy combat in the Vietnam War. He told the law firm's lawyers about his disability because it was a major part of his life and hoped that they would give him a little more courtesy (Jack would be totally wrong about getting extra courtesy, even though they were his own law firm). He also told them about his PTSD because he did not want it to be used against him in custody rights, which was common practice in veterans with PTSD divorce proceedings.

He signed their contact, paid them an agreed upon retainer check that the law firm cashed within three days. He expected a routine handling of his case, but things only fell apart from there. It was as if his lawyer and law firm did not care he had PTSD. Sometimes, it felt like that they were even trying to take advantage of his own disability.   Eventually, the law firm Maynard & Truland even mocked his disability in sworn attorney ethics certifications to the New Jersey Supreme Court. But it all just made him angry and motivated that much more.

From the beginning there was no action from the law firm, court-required deadlines were missed, and Jack's needs were ignored. Jack's lawyer was not even returning his phone calls. For whatever reason, the firm was grossly inadequate in their handling of the divorce suit even allowing for it to enter into default; a fact they neglected to tell Jack until it was too late. On the way out the door to visit his older sister (the third to have cancer and was about to undergo a major operation) at a NYC hospital, he was notified by mail from family court that he was now in divorce default for no activity on the case. The misrepresentation given by the firm was so poor that Jack's own ex-wife wrote to the courts complaining about their woeful behavior saying that Jack was, for all intents and purposes, representing himself.

All that the firm managed to do was overcharge him an extra $25.00 an hour over the contracted rate that they had agreed on. What made it even more disgraceful was Maynard & Truland law firm's own printed Invoice which stated that they were billing Jack for their own Divorce Default removal. The Maynard & Truland law firm was completely acting without attorney ethics. To Jack, he felt that they were acting above the law and could not understand why they were doing this. Again, he even thought that they might be taking advantage of his PTSD disability. This was his own law firm that he already had paid. His stress was building, and it no longer had anything to do with the divorce but with his own law firm's unprofessionalism. He wanted to fight back. PTSD vets were not there to be taken advantage of. Just like he fought to save the innocent people of the Duc Duc Refugee Village, Jack felt he was battling to save future PTSD vets and even average New Jersey citizens from discrimination and fraud. No one should be above America's laws.

Jack was rightfully angry over how he had been treated and took his case to the New Jersey Supreme Court local, State Attorney Ethics Committee. This would lead to even further problems for Jack since a lawyer of Maynard & Trudell actually served on the Ethics board: Robert Correale. Correale's firm's website listed him as not only being on the same committee, but as their Vice-Chairman. This was the same lawyer who was supposed to serve on Jack's behalf in court but never once spoke and was clearly unprepared. Jack now faced an enemy far more stealthy and ruthless than that of the Viet Cong decades before. He was now going to take on the cold, faceless courts of New Jersey and, later, the Federal justice system.

In total, Jack was in 'Divorce Default' for almost 4 months, because of lack of any activity from his law firm. It was up to the judge, but he could lose all custody rights to his children, because of this default. To say that he was worried would be an understatement. He was terrified about losing his children. That is why he hired the law firm in the first place. He reached out to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) repeatedly for advice but they could not give him legal advice. His doctor documented it all very well in medical records and recommended hospitalization. In spite of how he was feeling, the disabled vet felt that he could not go into the VA hospital. His children's custody was more at skate. Jack felt he had to battle his own law firm. His VA doctor increased his medicine.

The first response Jack received from the State Ethics Committee was one that simply stated he should get a different attorney. Get a different attorney while in a divorce default that his first attorney got him into. This, of course, was far from satisfactory: what about the horrible representation Jack received by the law firm and, by extension, Robert Correale? A document, sent by Correale to the same Ethics committee that he was on the board of, defended his law firm. The ethics violations that Jack alleged were to be investigated by- of all people- Robert Correale and the other lawyers on the committee, who Correale supervised!

In any other setting, this would be considered an extreme violation of the legal system, a major Conflict of Interest in the very least. However, it was permitted. A series of questionable events would occur which illustrates the grave injustices that Jack has faced for over 17 years. Correale would use his influence on the Ethics committee to remove himself and his law firm, Maynard & Truland from blame and, later, court recordings related to a future law suit (mentioned below) "disappeared" before they could be officially transcribed.   Finally, if that weren't enough, Correale mocked Jack's struggle with PTSD and brought a lawsuit claiming that he owed his law firm an additional $2,000.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Graves, who handled Maynard & Truland's open bill lawsuit, threw their suit out but not before adding that Jack gathered enough evidence to warrant his own lawsuit for Legal Malpractice against Robert Correale and his law firm Maynard Truland.   Jack felt it was like a dream. He was going to get justice against this gang of corrupt lawyers. And he did it; at least his evidence did. He felt, "Not bad for a PTSD vet."

A few months later, Judge Graves' remarks could not be recovered for the court transcript when Jack was preparing for his legal malpractice suit. The part of the court audio where Judge Graves said that Jack's evidence warranted the law division for damages had apparently gone missing.   Supreme Court Attorney Robert Correale and his law firm Maynard & Truland had friends in high places. How all of this occurred seems like a wild conspiracy that could only be pure fiction but it's all true and it plagued Jack daily. His mental state was badly deteriorating and Jack's VA doctors wanted to hospitalize him for the exacerbation.   Already reeling from a divorce and his ongoing struggles with PTSD, he had to deal with the bureaucratic nightmare of the New Jersey legal system. He had to continue fighting.   Besides, who would ever believe this was happening to him. He was a PTSD vet. He was all alone in this fight just like so many times thirty years before in his CAP unit in Vietnam.

Soon, though, Jack wouldn't be alone. Many are familiar with the Marine Corps motto: Semper Fi or Semper Fidelis which is Latin for "Always Faithful". Indeed, the Marines were always faithful to Jack as a number of the Marines he served with in the past- and a number of other vets who learned of his struggle- reassured him that he was NOT alone in his fight.

Jack led a letter writing campaign that went all the way up to then-governor James Mcgreevey, who sent a return letter.   Jack's letter stated that if the Office of Attorney Ethics had Robert Correale own State Attorney Ethics board investigate Jack's case it would be a major Conflict of Interest and ethics violation.   After months of writing and Ccing everyone in the New Jersey State Government, Jack finally received a letter from New Jersey's Supreme Court Director of Attorney Ethics that they realized there was a Conflict of Interest if Correale's own attorney ethics committee investigated him and the Maynard & Truland law firm. This was a small victory for Jack, but he went on even further. The investigation was moved to another nearby ethics committee and a few of the involved lawyers were told to write up sworn certifications of what was their version of Jack Cunningham's charges against them. One of the law firm's partners, Joe Truland was strangely excused from writing up his own sworn certification.

In about two weeks, the Maynard and Truland sworn certifications were released to the NJ Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics, along with copies to Jack. These Certifications were filled with perjuries, vague, misleading and contradicting statements. Robert Correale had the most detailed certification, which was filled with the most of these vague and misleading statements. Being a NJ Supreme Court Attorney Ethics committee member himself, he was probably used as the biggest liar for a reason. In two areas of his sworn certification, Correale even openly mocked Jack's PTSD.   Nothing was questioned. Strangely, the certifications were accepted by the committee supervisors without question and with no supporting documentation or evidence as well.    What made it even more bizarre was the fact that Jack himself supplied detailed evidence and documents:   the firm's own contract, invoices, court filed letters, court filed documents, and even official-federal Veterans Affairs Medical Records that highlighted the impact the corruption and fraud was having on Jack's PTSD. All the committee supervisors had to do was review Jack's evidence and compare it to the certifications. The committee sat on their decision for months. In a shocking twist, Robert Correale and his law firm were cleared of any wrongdoing despite obvious perjury in their certifications. The fact that Superior Judge Ronald Graves' transcript went missing was never addressed by the Office of Attorney Ethics and all of the evidence that Jack presented was never mentioned.

Jack's letter writing campaign did not die down. He would write and send key pieces of evidence to New Jersey Governors Richard Codey, Jon Corzine, and the current Governor Chris Christie, but he never received a return letter from any of their offices. Like all politicians, before news cameras, each of these New Jersey governors praised veterans and highlighted the importance of giving veterans the rights, respect and benefits that they so rightly earned but they could not even return a letter to Jack addressing New Jersey's denial of his due process.

Jack's life has not been all bad, though. He remarried and has been with his wife Joan for fourteen years. His family only grew both in strength and in numbers during Jack's legal battles: he has five children and three step-children along with nine grandchildren. He and his ex-wife Alice- who herself recognized the overwhelming odds Jack is up against- remain on friendly terms. Their children, now adults, are all successful. As strange as it may sound to many, Jack and Joan have even been on a number of family vacations with his adult kids, their children and with his ex-wife; so much so that people have often teased him that he has two wives. He has even stayed close with his ex-wife's family and to them he will always be known as Uncle Jack. He still goes to regular VA therapy sessions for PTSD and now resides in Sussex, New Jersey.

Jack is something of a celebrity both locally and on the Internet because of all of his successful veteran advocacy causes. Using his data processing skills, he runs a number of websites. He still keeps mostly isolated though. Four causes he is especially proud of: Helping to save the USS ARIZONA Marine Remembrance Memorial at Pearl Harbor. (See Below) Writing a poem and getting it produced addressed to all Vietnam veterans from America. To this day, some Vietnam veterans have asked to be buried with a copy of it. The third and fourth causes are helping to push every year for a Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day on March 29 and getting a song 'Welcome Home' by Eric Horner and Lee Greenwood (God Bless The USA - Proud To Be An American fame) written and produced about Vietnam vets.   Everything Jack does is nonprofit- sometimes, his causes actually cost him money. But he says that he does them, because he gets more out of it than money can bring.

In February of this year, Jack finally received even more support for his efforts when a veterans foundation agreed to connect him to a team of pro bono lawyers for his future federal court case. But for reasons beyond Jack's control, the pro bono lawyers were unable to supply Jack with their support. Once again, he's forced to represent himself to bring justice to New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics. However, Jack has a history of fighting alone, or with a few tough supporters. He remains just as determined and strongly believes that this type of fraud and corruption coming from this extremely important state agency can be triggered against any and all average New Jersey citizens, or any citizen across our nation, who do not have connections to power and corrupt influence.   Jack does not consider himself a PTSD veteran who is looking for pity; just an average, American Patriot fighting against injustice in government.

The proud, Marine Vietnam veteran knows the federal civil court battle will be even more intense and complicated than he ever fought. It's just him as PRO SE and his strong evidence up against the name and reputation of the New Jersey Supreme Court.   In the end, Jack would want federal criminal corruption and fraud charges against a number of high level New Jersey Supreme Court lawyers for protecting one of their own. He would also like federal charges brought against the tag-team of Maynard & Truland lawyers who started it all.

Above all, there is no argument about Jack's heroic military service. His actions were above and beyond the line of duty and he should be recognized for it rather than discredited as a crazy, weak, unbelievable old man. The VA's motto comes from the words of Abraham Lincoln: "To care for him who shall have borne the battle" and these words should influence all of our attitudes to the soldiers who have returned home with even greater personal struggles in their future. Should our government- who swore to take on the responsibility of caring for every last soldier living or dead- be allowed to throw Jack to the curb? His story is just one of many other struggles that veterans have been forced to face , and it's a grave injustice that we can allow this to happen in this great country. So ask yourself this: Should outrages like these be covered up and forgotten, or should they be used to open our country's eyes so our country's finest can be helped in the future?

New Jersey Corruption a Vietnam Veterans Fight - PRESS HERE

READ SOME EXPERIENCES OF A VIETNAM VETERAN AT: http://www.CapVeterans.com

Democrat 1st time Congressman Josh Gottheimer is the only member of Congress to stand with PTSD veteran to get Justice from the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) PRESS HERE FOR DETAILS

ROBERT JAMES PIERCE, U.S. Marine

On a recent road trip to New Orleans, on the return trip to New Jersey, John "Jack" Cunningham and his wife, Joan took a detour into Georgia to visit the grave of Jack's Marine buddy who was killed in Vietnam War. As Jack paid his respects to his Vietnam War buddy, Joan cleaned 47 years of mold that had covered the honorable veteran's headstone. Above is the 'before and after' pictures of Joan's care. Please reach out and do the same to forgotten veterans' graves. They deserve to be remembered...

click here to download file for Movie Script "SO ALONE"

On this past 4th of July, Proud Vietnam Veteran John "Jack" Cunningham Asked YOU To SHARE, And Join His over 33,000 Supporters and over 28,000 petition signers

https://www.causes.com/campaigns/39358-vietnam-veteran-asks-you-to-join-his-near-33-000-supporters

SUPREME COURT ETHICS ATTORNEY CHARGED WITH LEGAL MALPRACTICE

Determined Vietnam veteran Jack Cunningham was forced to represent himself as a PRO SE plaintiff in Superior Court against a corrupt, defendant state Supreme Court ethics attorney Robert Correale in a Legal Malpractice case. The disabled vet asked for ‘Reasonable Court Accommodations’ for his PTSD.

New Jersey Superior Court Honorable Judge Ronald Graves determined that the Vietnam veteran's evidence and charges warranted the Superior Court Law Division for damages. However, the judge's audio court transcript went mysteriously missing, before the important key document could be typed as evidence. The law division charges against state Supreme Court ethics attorney Robert Correale was then thrown out of Superior Court for lack of merit.

For 16 years, the state still refuses to investigate the decorated, combat vet's charges of a cover-up. Jack Cunningham has over 32,000 overall supporters and over 27,000 petition signers, but the State of New Jersey still refuses to even acknowledge the vet's correspondence. But Jack will NEVER give up seeking Justice.

Now, after reviewing the tons of evidence, a member of Congress wants the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the case.

John "Jack" Cunningham and his wife Joan

Disabled Marine Vietnam Veteran John "Jack" Cunningham Accuses The New Jersey Supreme Court, And It's Office of Attorney Ethics of Fraud. And one way or another, he will be charging them in federal court for Fraud. Please learn the details below.

The below letters have been sent to numerous levels of the federal government as well as each of the seven (7) New Jersey Supreme Court Justices:   Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, Justice Anne M. Patterson, Justice Jaynee La Vecchia, Justice Barry T. Albin, Justice Walter F. Timpone, Justice Lee A. Solomon, Justice Faustino J. Fernandez-Vina.

CURRENT STATUS: Over the last three months, I've sent the two below letters to about 80 members of Congress, both in the House and Senate. I concentrated on those members in the Committees of Veterans Affairs and Judiciary. Yesterday, I received correspondence from my local Congressman Josh Gottheimer.   After reading through my letters and internet evidence, Congressman Gottheimer wanted to write the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) and have them look into my case. A copy of the congressman's letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) is above.
Dear Honorable Congressman Gottheimer,
Please bare with me. I’m a PTSD disabled combat veteran from the Vietnam War. I’m not looking for any pity and any notoriety.    And I already receive VA health care and benefits.   I’m just looking for Federal Justice that is legally-guaranteed to every American citizen under the U.S. Constitution. Nothing more and nothing less...
For the last 16 years, I have been looking for state justice, but I finally realize that for various and clear reasons, I’m NOT going to get it in New Jersey. (As you read, you will find out why no attorney in New Jersey would have a career if they openly supported me on this.)
I have been under the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) care for a number of years. I am looking to bring federal justice to the State of New Jersey Supreme Court's Office of Attorney Ethics, and those Supreme Court justices, who have illegally protected those involved in this federal, state criminal cover-up and fraud.   (PTSD disabled PRO SE veteran plaintiffs deserve ‘reasonable court accommodations’ not denial of their constitutional civil rights.)
My attached letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions only explains a small part of this redress to Congress and the federal government. I have hundreds of webpages on the internet that detail facts and hold actual , clear evidence. (I also have numerous boxes of hard-copy evidence at various sites among family and friends‘ households.) Why on the internet… Over the years, I have used the kind and supportive opinions of tens-of-thousands of internet patriots from across the nation to keep me going on this.
The fact that the Federal Veterans Affairs Department (VA) has assigned me a rating of 100% permanent and total evaluation effective March 13, 2000 can only explain part of how they accomplished their fraud.   My charges go much farther beyond harassment and discrimination of a disability.   Answers are needed on… How easily this was criminally accomplished by the State of New Jersey at the time, and how easily they criminally covered up this for all these years. Also, how so many government officials had to get involved in the overall cover-up.
You will read in my attached letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, why I have the ability to reach hundreds of thousands of patriots across America on computers. My issue with New Jersey corruption is well-known on Facebook, Causes.com, City-Data forums, Delphi forums and other internet social platforms.   You could say I use my computer as a weapon of choice-communications, just like I used my M-16 rifle, M-60 machine gun and M-79 grenade launcher as weapons, serving in my Vietnamese peasant-farming village under the Marine Corps’ Combined Action Program (CAP).   (I used all three weapons in the same firefight.)
Please help me get some federal justice on this. Not every PTSD disabled veteran has 22 years of working experience with computers and yet, they deserve to be heard too.
       Sincerely yours,
John “Jack” Cunningham

U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Subject: New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics misuse of power to protect one of their own Robert Correale
With doing this, they openly denied a PTSD Disabled Veteran his Due Process and even allowed him to be openly mocked for his disability in New Jersey Supreme Court Sworn Certifications that were filled with perjury.
Dear Honorable Attorney General Jeff Sessions:
My reasons for writing to you and the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) are twofold   One, to protect current and future, disabled PTSD veterans’ civil rights as plaintiffs in state courts and from discrimination of any kind. Secondly, my hope is for the Federal Department of Justice (DOJ) to file criminal charges against all involved in this government fraud and New Jersey State Cover-up.   My charges center around New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics, NJ Superior Court and government officials attempts to deceive, using acts of fraud and manipulation of my Due Process as a plaintiff against a corrupt (former) NJ Supreme Court Official Robert Correale and his Law Firm, Maynard and Truland.
Robert Correale was a general-practice attorney for the Maynard & Truland Law Firm of Morristown, New Jersey. While practicing law at Maynard & Truland, Robert Correale was also serving as an assistant district attorney in a number of different New Jersey towns and counties. According to the attached Maynard & Truland webpage dedicated to him, besides wearing all of these impressive and influential hats, he was listed as the local Vice-Chairman of the New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics District X committee. This position allowed him almost god-like influence around the state as well as his fellow attorneys of Maynard & Truland. Attorneys and even judges' careers could end from his, and his committee's judgments and decisions. Correale understood the influence he had around New Jersey, and his law firms' partners Joe Truland and James Maynard were ready to use it to their advantage, and for one of their own client's disadvantage.
Robert Correale and his fellow Maynard & Truland lawyers were able to use his considerable powers to block Superior Court Legal Malpractice charges and official NJ Supreme Court Attorney Ethics charges against them, but this was minor compared to the New Jersey's Supreme Court, which openly allowed this unethical behavior and even openly protected them in the process. In the past 16 years, ‘Reasonable Court Accommodations’ from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) could have helped me; instead, I was even mocked for my PTSD in sworn New Jersey Supreme Court Certifications.
I am considered by the federal Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to be 100% "Permanent and Totally" disabled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), due to my combat service during the Vietnam war. Please do not make light of this letter and my charges because of my PTSD disability which has already caused me considerable difficulties in both my personal and public life. PTSD is a nervous disorder, but it does not make you lose your intelligence.

After 16 years of battling the State of New Jersey for my Due Rights as a plaintiff, I have a tremendous number of facts and evidence which will back up the charges I'm laying out in this letter, attachments, and internet links. Before going out on disability for PTSD, I was a very successful project manager in data processing with a staff of 17 computer programmers, analysts, and project leaders at Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in Manhattan. Documentation and major analysis were keys even back then.
I know I can file a federal civil suit, but like in the past in NJ State courts, I would be forced to handle the federal case as PRO SE, because no New Jersey lawyer wants to go up against New Jersey's Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics. Win or lose, it could be a career-ending event for an ordinary attorney. Besides after 16 years, based on how these state officials used their state positions to illegally protect themselves and stifle Justice, federal criminal charges should be brought up. I want to make sure this never happens to another PTSD veteran now or in the future. It’s taken a major toll on my health and mental-well-being according to my VA medical records.
The VA, Congress and the American taxpayers pay billions of dollars a year to care and treat disabled vets suffering from PTSD. I appreciate all of the care and treatment that I have received over the years. It has saved my life but I'm upset and disgusted by the unnecessary harassment and discrimination that exacerbates veterans' PTSD disabilities. Americans constantly hear about the discrimination and harassment cases of sex, race, and the physically disabled, but we never discus the discrimination and harassment cases of the PTSD disabled which can be just as harmful.
Besides a Superior Court transcript disappearing into thin air, perjury was permitted in Supreme Court Attorney Certifications and the evidence goes on.
I'm begging you. Yes, I'm actually begging you to please review everything that I'm stating in this letter. I admit I've dedicated a great deal of time and effort with bringing these corrupt government officials to justice. This should never happen to another PTSD vet, disabled individual, or average citizen in the United States of America.
Thank God for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the great staff that have helped me during this time, and now I'm asking for my Due Process from you that the State of New Jersey has denied me for over a decade.
Sincerely and Truthfully,
John "Jack" Cunningham
Very Proud Vietnam Veteran
Sussex, New Jersey

Robert Correale Carried Almost 'god-like' Influence Around The State Courts Of New Jersey

Government Fraud, Federal RICO (I.e. racketeering crimes) are involved in this below case due to the fact that a number of New Jersey state lawyers, officials and even politicians have acted together to obstruct justice and deny PTSD Veteran John "Jack" Cunningham his constitutional rights.

Robert Correale was a general-practice attorney for the Maynard & Truland Law Firm of Morristown, New Jersey. While practicing law at Maynard & Truland, Correale was also serving as an assistant district attorney in a number of different New Jersey towns and counties. According to the Maynard & Truland webpage dedicated to him, besides wearing all of these impressive and influential hats, he is listed as the local Vice-Chairman of the New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics District X committee. This position allowed him almost god-like influence around the state as well as his fellow attorneys of Maynard & Truland. Attorneys and even judges' careers could end from his, and his committee's judgments and decisions. Correale understood the influence he had around New Jersey, and his law firms' partners Joe Truland and James Maynard were ready to use it to their advantage, and for one of their own client's disadvantage.

Correale and his fellow Maynard & Truland lawyers were able to use his considerable powers to block Superior Court Legal Malpractice charges and official NJ Supreme Court Attorney Ethics charges against them, but this was minor compared to the New Jersey's Supreme Court which allowed this unethical behavior and even protected them in the process.

However, the thorn in their side was never going to disappear. They picked the wrong client to abuse Correale's influence on. At first, they thought the client was an easy target, because he was a Vietnam veteran with PTSD. They never would have believed that after tag-teaming the PTSD veteran with law firm lawyers, and throwing every possible legal obstacle at him, the former Marine would be bringing them to federal court 17 years later along with the whole New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics for fraudulently and malfeasancely protecting them from justice.

Thankfully, there is no Statute of limitations in federal court when it comes to state government fraud. And based on all the clear evidence that Jack Cunningham has on the New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics and New Jersey governors' office, they have been committing fraud, malfeasance, obstruction of Justice, denial of a citizen's due rights based on deception as well as harassment of a PTSD veteran's disability and disability discrimination.

Some of Jack Cunningham's clear evidence of New Jersey courts and NJ government fraud:

Correale and his law firm Maynard & Truland took Jack Cunningham to Superior Court for an open bill but Jack counter sued against Correale and his law firm for Legal Malpractice. Correale represented his law firm. Jack was forced to handle his case as PRO SE (on his own), because no New Jersey lawyer wanted to go up against Correale, because of his obvious influence as the Vice-Chairman of New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics District X committee. Win or lose, it could be a career-ending event for an ordinary attorney. Because Jack was both representing himself and effectively disabled with PTSD due to trauma in Vietnam, he asked the court for "Reasonable Court Acommodations for his disability". After reviewing Jack's detailed evidence, Honorable Superior Court Judge Ronald Graves threw out Robert Correale's open bill charges and, against Correale's obections, Judge Graves added that Jack's charges of Legal Malpractice and his evidence warranted the law division for damages.

However, strangely enough, two months later when Jack tried to get a copy of Judge Ronald Graves court transcript where the judge said Cunningham's Legal Malpractice charges were valid, that portion of the transcript audio was missing. Jack's Law Division Superior Court civil case was then thrown out for lack of merit. Neither could he use Judge Graves court transcript in formal attorney ethics violation charges. This helped pave the way for Correale and Maynard & Truland to perjure themselves in sworn NJ Supreme Court certifications.

In these same sworn, Supreme Court Attorney Ethics Certifications, Robert Correale disgracefully and openly mocked Jack Cunningham's PTSD disability without question.

When Jack Cunningham first started bringing formal Attorney Ethics Violation charges against Robert Correale and his law firm, the New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics refused to answer the PTSD veteran's letters. Jack sent out another round of letters to them, this time Cc:ing the NJ governor, the NJ Attorney General and key officers of the state legislature. Finally, the Supreme Court Office answered them and assigned the investigation of Correale and Maynard & Truland to the same committee that Robert Correale was listed to be the Vice-Chairman of District X. In words anyone could understand, the complaint about Correale and his firm was to be investigated by Correale which is a clear violation of attorney ethics as it pertains to conflict of interest. This assignment was done by the second highest official in this important NJ Supreme Court office but it all just led to another round of battles for Jack Cunningham to get them to recognize their major Conflict of Interest. The battles continued until Correale and his fellow Maynard and Truland lawyers were all cleared of all charges but not before perjuring themselves in Supreme Court Certifications.

Jack Cunningham's current goal is to get federal criminal charges brought against everyone involved in the New Jersey State Government cover-up.

Part 2

HOW IT ALL STARTED: The Cover-up is worse than the crime

After nearly 25 years of marriage and five children, Vietnam veteran John "Jack" Cunningham was served with divorce papers. The veteran, considered 100% permanently disabled by federal Veterans Affairs (VA) due to PTSD, was worried that his disability would be used against him in custody rights for his two minor children, which was a common practice for various reasons in divorce cases against PTSD vets. The Marine hired the law firm Maynard & Truland. At the first two meetings Jack drove home in a near-panic-like fear of losing his children's custody due to his disability. However, law firm partner attorney Joe Truland and the firm's divorce attorney Edward Buschico repeatedly highlighted that they were professionals and would do their jobs.

During the next few weeks, the client called a number of times to both the law firm's partner Joe Truland and divorce attorney for an update on the firm's response to the court and his wife and her attorney. Although he was promised by the office manager that he would get returned calls from the attorneys, he never did. Twenty-two days later, the PTSD veteran was notified by Superior Court - Family Division that he was now in Divorce-Default for his lack of response to the initial divorce papers. Based on now being in divorce-default for his lack of response to family court, the family court judge could make her ruling for loss of all custody rights. Jack's PTSD worsened dramatically as his greatest fear of losing his two children could now be made by a simple decision of the judge.

The veteran's weekly PTSD therapy sessions (well-documented) with a Veterans Affairs (VA) doctor were filled with talk of his fear of the loss of his children and triggering intense memories from the war, living 24/7 in an isolated peasant-farming village defending against Viet Cong terrorist fighters. Meanwhile, Jack made repeated attempts to get the firm's partner Joe Truland and divorce attorney Edward Buschio on the phone, but he still didn't receive the promised returned calls. Between the lack of communication from the law firm that he hired and getting notices about the default from the court, he thought the worst and it was triggering his most painful memories.

Out of desperation and total frustration, Jack wrote a heated letter to Joe Truland and Edward Buschio in the hope that they would start acting professional and communicate with him, the family court and his wife's attorney. Even after writing the letter, he still did not get any return communications from his own law firm. However, He continued to receive notifications that he was still in divorce default for lack of his activity to the court and his wife's attorney. More phone calls to the law firm were never returned.

Jack continued to attend his VA therapy sessions where the impact of the divorce and his frustrations with his law firm was well-documented in his official Veterans Affairs medical progress records. It was even recorded that he should have his medicine adjusted so that he could cope better and that he might have to be VA hospitalized for the exacerbation of his PTSD.

Sixty-nine days into the contract Jack Cunningham signed with the law firm, he finally received a very brief letter from a Maynard and Truland attorney Robert Correale; a name he did not recognize. Robert Correale's letter briefly stated that he was starting on the work on his divorce removal; was an Invoice listing that the client was being charged for this divorce-removal at an extra $25 inflated hourly rate. He was being charged for their gross neglience at an inflated rate by a law firm attorney that he knew nothing about. What happened to the law firm's partner and their divorce attorney Edward Buschio?

With no answers to his prior questions and a growing number of new questions to ask, the client wrote another letter to Joe Truland and addressed it to Robert Correale a lawyer Jack had not known before. Once again, there wasn't a response to this letter or his continued phone calls. Whoever Robert Correale was, he was apparently just as bad in communicating back as the previous divorce attorney Ed Buschio was. Even worse, Jack received another notification from family court stating that he was still in default because there hadn't been a response from him.

Jack felt like he was losing his mind out of frustration, but he also felt strongly that he had to fight back against this gang of incompetent lawyers. There was custody of his two young children was at stake. Jack wrote a third letter to the Maynard & Truland lawyers. Again, when he received no response for his third letter, he wrote to the local New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics District X committee and attached supporting evidence. In his letter he highlighted the divorce-default Maynard & Truland, LLC. placed him in and the extra stress they were causing him. When Jack received yet another notification from Family Court that he was still in divorce default and there was to be a final court hearing on it, he wrote to the Family Court judge explaining his facts and presenting his evidence.

A few days before the final divorce default court hearing, the local District X committee of New Jersey' Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics wrote back and said that they could not help him; however, they simply recommended that Jack obtain another law firm without any other suggestions. It would be Two years later when Jack learned that Robert Correale was the Vice-Chairman of this same NJ Supreme Court Attorney Ethics District X committee. Again, this District X recommendation to get a new lawyer was just days before the final default hearing that Maynard & Truland, LLC. caused. Living off only his monthly disability payments from the federal government, there was no additional money to retain another lawyer even if it was a good idea and changing law firms just days before the default hearing was insane even to this "crackpot" veteran. He knew that he had to attend the hearing himself, plead for some type of reasonable court accommodations for his PTSD disability, and expose the lack of professionalism of the firm he had hired.

The day of the default hearing, with no responses back from his letter to the Family Court judge or any communications from Maynard & Truland's attorneys, Jack went to Superior Court to represent himself and hoped for some type of understanding or mercy. After notifying the court that he was there for the default hearing, he sat in the second row of the small 2 row courtroom and waited for his turn to be heard. In the back of his mind, he was hoping that the law firm divorce attorney Edward Buschio would attend, but he wasn't counting on it. The divorce attorney fell off the face of the earth as far as he knew. He had neither seen nor heard from Buschio since the day he signed signed the contract and paid the retainer. That same day, Buschio nastily stated that he know how to do his job. Extremely anxious, Jack didn't have the slightest idea what to expect during the default hearing, but at least he had made it there.

When the court case was announced, Jack was about to move up to the defendant chair when a lawyer introduced himself to the court as Maynard & Truland attorney Robert Correale and he was representing John Cunningham in the Case management appearance. Jack was completely dumbfounded, who was attorney Robert Correale and what happened to the divorce default? What happened to the divorce attorney Edward Buschio and why were the attorneys switched, and when? He had received no written or verbal communications from the firm that his representation was officially switched and wondered if the law firm was allowed to switch attorneys like that without notifying him or asking for permission.

At the end of the case management hearing, Jack tried to get some answers from Correale, but was brushed off by him claiming that he had no time to talk. (Two years later, Jack would receive some misleading, vague and even perjurious statements from Robert Correale about many of his questions when Correale was forced to swear in New Jersey Supreme Court Certifications. It was also in Robert Correale's Certification that Jack would learn how Correale described this day's first meeting between the two of them. Jack was even mocked for his PTSD in Correale's New Jersey Supreme Court Certification.)

Although Jack never received any sort of response from the Family Court judge about the letter that he sent the week before, he was sure it had some impact in releasing him from the divorce-default that the lack of action from his own law firm put him in. He was actually feeling somewhat optimistic for the first time since hiring Maynard & Truland to represent him. However, Jack would soon learn just how corrupt the firm and Robert Correale was.

There were a number of future situations, but this was really highlighted during the most important, final court arbitration. Flamingly-narcissistic Robert Correale came to court totally unprepared. For over two hours in a small court house room, he sat silent next to Jack as Jack spoke to his ex-wife and her attorney. The misrepresentation given by Robert Correale was so poor that Jack's own ex-wife later wrote to the courts stating about Correale's woeful, unprofessional behavior saying that Jack was, for all intents and purposes, representing himself. In the end for that day, Correale charged Jack hundred's of dollars for his own representation at Correale $25 inflated rate per hour over the contract.

Jack Cunningham on left

John "Jack" Cunningham Asks YOU To Join His over 31,000 Total Supporters https://www.causes.com/campaigns/39358-vietnam-vet-asks-you-to-join-his-nearing-30-000-supporters

Please Sign John "Jack" Cunningham Petition To: Governor Chris Christie and All Honorable NJ Legislators: https://www.causes.com/actions/1746185-american-war-veterans-petition-to-governor-chris-christie (Nearing 27,000 have already signed)

DISABLED VIETNAM VETERAN IS TRYING TO DRAIN THE SWAMP IN HIS HOME STATE
After reading the below story, please join the growing-daily list of over 30,000 of John "Jack" Cunningham's supporters. Below the story are the details to join.

A Proud Veteran's Struggle For Respect, Honor And Justice For All Vietnam Veterans And All PTSD Veterans

by Will Wagner

John "Jack" Cunningham always wanted to volunteer in the Marines and volunteer he did; one month after he graduated from famous, New York City's Power Memorial Academy. He grew up watching patriotic films on television about the heroism of America's overall military in World War II and Korea; his older brothers served in the military: one in the US Army, the other in the Navy. A brother-in-law, who Jack was close to, served in the Marines during the Korean War in the 1st Marine Division at the Chosin Reservoir - "The Frozen Chosin".

Eventually, Jack's dream of serving in the Marines came true and he went to boot camp at Parris Island (famous for its depiction in Kubrick's take on Vietnam Full Metal Jacket). After his training, at the age of nineteen Jack was sent to California where he received orders from the Combined Action Program (CAP): he was to go to special training school in Da Nang. Jack had watched war movies when he was younger but this wasn't a movie on tv; this was Vietnam.   A life long of never-to-forget memories jammed into one short year. But he wanted to serve for America like so many brave and honorable Americans before him. Like all Marines, he was extremely proud of his Marine uniform picture that he earned while in Parris Island Marine Boot Camp.

Please Press The Picture For A Bigger Copy

Although at 18 years old, the skinny New York City boy thought, he knew so much. His high school, Power Memorial had boys from around the city and from around the world. He was about to learn so much more. Jack knew the battle was going to be intense, with many hardships and violence, but he didn't know it was going to be as intense, rewardless, and somewhat disgraceful when he came home. For this was a different, and especially unique time for America's fighting men and women. The parades of honor and respect were no more. This type of negative attitude toward our military would last for many decades... And Jack, like so many other Vietnam Era vets, were about to fully learn it the hard way. They were about to fight this war alone.

The small CAP units served round the clock in Vietnamese villages where they defended the villagers from various levels of terrorist attacks. The young American Marines used their weapons of war, but they also used friendship and kindness just as much and at times, even more.  The warriors treated the people using basic average human instinct and character.  They were nicknamed "the Peace Corps volunteers with rifles." The goal of these American Marines were to teach the peasants a better way to fish and farm, not hand them fish and rice.  This truth was the complete opposite image of our military, what the American news media was highlighting every night.

But the truth about the Marine Corps' Combined Action Program was far more ominous: many times, CAPs were killed almost as soon as they were replaced. The tiny units consisted of only a handful of Marines and a U.S. Navy Corpsman per village and attacks were often.

The U.S. Navy Corpsman were special and unique. They were there for caring for the Marines, but also the daily, long line of Vietnamese villagers needing regular health care. The Marines, including Jack, helped with bandaids and giving babies soapy baths. Any complex health condition, the villager would be sent to a Marine base by helicopter or Jeep. Regardless of the health condition, payment was always just a smile.
For the young, Americans supplying the health care, it was like a new TV episode of Mash everyday. No Vietnamese peasant was ever turned away without health care. Many friendships on both sides were created. United States Navy Corpsmen became popular village celebrities.  Jack heard years after the war that one Navy CAP Corpsman, Doc O'Brien even personally paid for his village's school to be built.

At first the CAPs consisted of Marines who volunteered for the units, but as more and more horrifying stories of violence, brutal conflict, and high casualties began to spread, Marines had to be assigned. For some CAP Teams, they were known as Suicide Squads. The only thing for most CAP units, they did not even have a squad of Marines living in their village.   Only on paper, the teams were a little more than a fortified squad.

Jack was assigned to the Duc Duc resettlement village where conflict almost immediately greeted him. There were many times where death was certain- times that many of us who have never been in the heat of battle could never understand. There is no question of Jack's and the other CAPs bravery. Like in all wars, for most Americans in Vietnam bravery was routine. Unfortunately, stories of Cap units stretched far too thin beating the odds and saving the lives of villagers are hardly told. Far more people know of the tragedies like the massacre of My Lai village where it was the atrocities of Americans rather than the many stories of those like Jack's. The American News Media and Hollywood became extremely rich from pushing fake news stories and lies. Most American people would believe what ever the news media and Hollywood would put out. Why would they lie...

Viet Cong terrorists loved using the tools of violent death on innocent village people. To the communists everything was terrorism. The more vicious, random and heartless the attacks were on innocent people, the more control they had over the families of the village. But small American Marine CAP Teams stood in their way.

The Duc Duc Resettlement (Refugee) Village that Jack's CAP 2-9-2 unit defended had a population in the thousands while, with the exception of a handful of villagers who fought alongside the Americans, there were just on average of eight marines and as few as four at any given time. Four teenage Americans in a Vietnamese peasant-farming village of thousands. There were no 'safe-places' for these American college-age kids. But the Marines were not looking for any safe places. They were there to help and protect innocent people like American service men and women did throughout our country's history.

The confusion of which villagers were sympathetic to the US forces and which were sympathetic to the Communists created a situation rife with paranoia. There were constant rumors of communists infiltrating the village. Communications between the CAPs and the villagers was often mangled by language barriers. Enemy propaganda circulated constantly exploiting the CAPs obvious vulnerabilities, especially the size of the units. Threats of the units to be wiped out were almost daily. Intelligent reports of hundreds of communists coming to attack the Marines and village kept everyone on extreme edge. Regardless of the bigger odds facing them, the village-Americans were their to protect the innocent people.  Semper Fi - Always Faithful was in their blood.

Jack was wounded three different times in and around his village of Duc Duc. He received one Purple Heart, because the other two wounds were minor. During one of his units daily patrol's, he stepped on a large booby trap that never exploded. During one intense combat action outside the village, Jack's buddy George Dros of Burlington Flats, NY credited Jack with saving his life and that of two other Marines, when Jack intentionally made himself a target for Viet Cong terrorists in order to save his three buddies. During the combat, Jack switched weapons between his M-79 grenade launcher to his buddy's M-60 machine gun and another buddy's M-16 rifle. He did this in the hope of giving the terrorists the impression that he was the better target.  It worked. The terrorists concentrated all their fire on Jack and his buddies were able to be saved. His brothers made it. That is all that Jack cared about.

Many times, Jack's worst moments weren't during heat of battle but the rare times of calm when he could actually process what was going on: the fear of attacks at any moment and the paranoia that the enemy might be hiding amongst the same people he was trying to protect. Beyond that was the bigger picture: he didn't know who he was fighting or why he was fighting. Back home, his generation and the others were divided between those who had their doubts but didn't voice disrespect and those who protested violently. In May 1970, the shooting deaths of four anti-war protesting students at Kent State made this same mental conflict even worse as the line between countrymen and enemies blurred even further.

This extreme stress and pressure at such a vulnerable time left a permanent impression on Jack. The fact that the local communists had a bounty on each of the Americans heads added to it. The uncertainty of enemy attacks, the frustration with the treatment of his own countrymen, and- most importantly- the confusion over what the ultimate goal was with the war created the perfect storm in his head. Added to this, Jack's unit was shocked to find a Viet Cong tunnel that contained, $5,000 in American green currency, $3,000 in military currency, and- most painful of all- boxes of clothing donated by students from the Berkley University in California. Students the same age as Jack were protesting and supporting the very enemy killing off Marines and Vietnamese peasants left and right. As small a gesture as the clothing was, it was the worst stab in the back Jack could have ever gotten from his peers back home in America. He felt that his buddies and him were being betrayed by those who should have been supporting them. Jack felt very a lone.   He wondered how World War II veterans felt, when they were battling in their war.

On July 17, 1970, Jack was part of a five Marine patrol outside his village that got pinned down and surrounded for hours. Another CAP Team from another village had to come to their rescue. However, it too got pinned down. Marine helicopter gunships and two Navy F-4 fighter jets came and bailed out both CAP Teams.

In August 1970, an event would occur that the 'Survivors Guilt' would never leave him the same again. After switching patrols one morning with another Marine, Robert J. Pierce (picture below) a surprise attack would result in his replacement Robert J. Pierce losing his legs then dying from the blood loss. Before dying, Robert was calling out to his mother and his brother Marines. With his tour of duty almost over, Robert was scheduled to leave Vietnam in a week.   The tragic death would be one that stood out amongst the many other bloody incidents during Jack's time in Vietnam. In his mind, he was at fault rather than the enemy. If he hadn't switched patrols, his buddy  Robert Pierce would be alive. Jack would remain haunted by the death long after he was safe from the daily horrors of the war. Around the time of the death, Jack would receive news and clippings that the Vietnam War veteran memorial in his hometown of Rosedale, Queens had been vandalized twice by protesters. The anti-military protesters attacked by night like communist, Viet Cong terrorists the names of the town's eight Vietnam War dead with tar and black paint. Like all of the other anti-military-anti-veteran attacks that Jack was hearing about, while serving in his village, the attack on his hometown's veteran memorial he took personal. He attended the dedication of this same memorial himself on Memorial Day 1968 less than two years before serving. Back in 2002, Jack built a simple website to the Rosedale Vietnam Veteran Memorial showing the news paper pictures of the anti-veteran attack.

Already bitter, this information served to only rub more salt in Jack's wounds. Many of today's patriots would almost feel the pain, he was under. WHY...   Jack felt extremely alone. But he knew he still had to do his job.

              Robert J. Pierce

              Robert J. Pierce

Conditions worsened when word began to spread that the CAPs were going to pull out of the area. The villagers felt betrayed and their relations with the Marines cooled considerably. Night watches consisted of constant wakefulness leaving Jack and his Marine buddies perpetually exhausted. Any wrong move meant death; any wrong action meant further ostracizing from the villagers. His very sanity became a delicate tightrope as the extreme conditions weighed down everyone around him. Finally, President Nixon announced the withdrawals of the troops freeing Jack from his torment. He left in February 1971 but leaving the battlegrounds would be bittersweet. A few months later in March and April, successive Viet Cong attacks destroyed to complete ashes the Duc Duc resettlement village killing hundreds of the same villagers Jack had previously been tasked to protect.   The massacre of Duc Duc left him with another lasting impression. He had many Vietnamese friends in the village. And some good Marines died over the years to protect it.  He wanted people to know the real truth.   Years after the war Jack would build a number of websites and webpages dedicated to the village and the Marines who died.   Although the physical wounds that he received protecting the village were minor, he left a major part of himself in Duc Duc.

Jack returned to the United States with the memories of the war, and stupid questions of how many babies he was forced to kill and did he ever have to burn his village down, but as time went on, they seemed to fade away. There were some events in the future that would create even more emotional turmoil: the fall of Saigon in 1975 would be especially painful as he recounts how he felt when he learned the news: "A lot of sadness and a lot of anger, even rage. I felt everything was a pure waste." To put the 1975 fall of Vietnam into perspective, just thirty years before America was celebrating the triumphant victory of the Allied forces against the Axis. Now, nearly forty years after the fall, many veterans of the Iraq War know a similar bitterness when the country they fought to liberate fell into the hands of ISIS.

Life began to slowly go back to normal. Jack settled on Long Island and eventually in northwestern New Jersey, started a family, and began a career programming, analyzing and later managing computer systems at Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield in Manhattan. His experience with the military proved to be useful for him as he became increasingly more successful. By the 1980s, life was good for Jack. He was thought highly of by his supervisors, senior management, his peers and was responsible for up to 17 employees. Although he had more employees on his computer staff than in his CAP Team, Jack begun to think of his team of computer programmers and analysts as his own CAP Team. His Subscriber Data Processing Team were now his buddies. And he protected them just like he did his CAP buddies. His co-workers were like his brothers and sisters.

He was now a project manager and making a great salary. To many in the large company of over 10,000 employees, he was Mr. Cunningham. To Jack, he was still just Jack. The job was somewhat stressful but he handled it well before things began to change unexpectedly in 1985. Stress from the job were starting to trigger some intense memories of the village. 'Survivors Guilt' was drawing it's ugly head.

In 1980, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was added to the DSM-III by the American Psychiatric Association. PTSD has since become closely associated with veterans from Vietnam and for good reason: 31% are believed to suffer from it. While the severity of the condition can vary from patient to patient, it can be debilitating for those who have it worst. PTSD can manifest itself in minor ways for years as anxiety or intrusive flashbacks with very little effect on a patient's day to day life. Sometimes, years can pass before it causes serious issues as was the case with Jack, who began to experience serious problems around 1985 but managed to keep working for sometime while his condition slowly deteriorated.

At the time, like many other Vietnam vets, Jack kept his thoughts, memories and feelings to himself. Socially, he started to isolate, but he still was able to work at a high level.   Since he was having memories of the war almost everyday, Jack started writing down his experiences from serving in the Combined Action Program (CAP). In a short period of time, he ended up writing 8 short stories of his village life. He was writing about war, but more importantly, he felt he was writing about family, his brothers.

Breaking through the stigma of PTSD was extremely hard. Besides, no one really wanted to talk to Vietnam vets about the war. And Vietnam vets did not want to talk to people who could not understand or relate.  Thanks to Hollywood, certain news-hound-celebrities, the news media and even some politicians, the image of PTSD Vietnam vets scared many in the general public. The caricature of Vietnam veterans as lunatic baby-killers and village-burners was still fresh in many Americans' minds. Jack's feelings of battling alone became stronger. To fight the negative feelings and images, Jack started letting family and friends at work read his short stories.   To his utter amazement people liked them and found them extremely interesting. Many people asked to read all 8 stories. Based on the feedback from readers, he started to think that maybe he could help change the negative image of Vietnam vets. Jack wanted to fight back. He didn't think that he was a hero, but he strongly felt that he served with heroes. There were over two million real heroes that served in Vietnam. Besides, having people read the experiences and stories was much easier than talking about them.

With the grace of God and prayer, Jack finally reached out to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Using federal Veterans Administration's (VA) medications and therapy to cope, Jack carried on with life as usual, but with each year his memories weighed him down further. Finally, in 1989, he was no longer able to work. It is common with many who suffer from PTSD- like sufferers from severe forms of anxiety or depression- to become chronically unemployed due to the difficulties their condition imposes on them. In this day and age, there is far more leeway for someone with a mental illness to get help and recognition. In 1989, however, many people's knowledge of PTSD came from movies like First Blood where the main character John Rambo suffers from a psychotic break due to his experiences in Vietnam. PTSD veterans had been stereotyped as crazy and able to snap at any time. This belief caused many of sufferers to remain in the shadows because of the fear of being ostracized for their shortcomings. Far to often, brave and honorable veterans with PTSD were judged for the false and weak images of the stigma of PTSD. Many professional people say that tens-of-thousands took their own lives, because of it.

While Jack did seek help, he didn't get better. However, he continued his writing about his Vietnamese village life and his brothers-in-green.   He felt that Hollywood needed to tell the truth about Vietnam veterans.  He started to write to Hollywood movers and shakers. Although he received a number of autograph pictures from stars, he did receive two very promising responses from two of his heroes: Actor Jimmy Stewart and Movie Director John Huston.   Jack started calling his writing project CAProductions.    He added it to the internet in March 2001. He wanted it all non-profit. He wanted the truth out about America's Vietnam vets and that is all he cared about.

Twice Jack would be hospitalized at VA facilities in 1986 and 1987 for PTSD; both times, he was sent gifts and support by his employees and friends. He seemed to have good support but in 1989, the memories of friends' deaths during the war created intense survivor's guilt. This, along with life's stresses, created the perfect storm. Oftentimes, those with PTSD will not experience worrisome symptoms until they've gone through an extended illness like pneumonia or influenza; others won't have symptoms until they enter a period of extreme stress like having issues at work or with family. With Jack, his own thoughts became his worst enemy. As the good memories started flooding back into Jack's head, the bad memories came just as fast. He had no switch or filters to regulate his thoughts. He could no longer function.

Jack would continue in this way until 1996 around the time of the birth of his fifth child. During this time, he wrote four movie scripts to keep busy. His first one was about his experiences in Duc Duc, about the loss of his friend and his own survivors guilt dealing with it. His second script was about a Vietnam vet dealing with PTSD during the 1st Gulf War. His third and fourth scripts were total fiction about young teenagers and ghosts who come to their rescue. He did the last two to get away from war, but writing them did not help any.

He had to be again hospitalized in a VA hospital for nearly four months because of PTSD which obviously caused problems in his personal life. The loss of two older sisters each to cancer within two years did not help. As his mental state tore him apart, his domestic life caused him further pain. In 1999, Jack's wife filed for divorce. The divorce suit would be only the beginning of Jack Cunningham's struggle for justice as lawsuit after lawsuit exposed the corruption of the New Jersey justice system.

Since the 9-11 terrorist attacks, most of America's hearts and minds were open to the sacrifices and truths of America's Vietnam Veterans. Jack's writing goal of trying to improve the image of Vietnam vets was no longer necessary.   The truth was coming out on its own. But Jack still wanted to follow through. He loved writing, especially young fiction dealing with ghosts and totems. Stories of hope, family, communities, inspiration, history and inner strength. His third script was called "Carrie's Treasure." It was about the inner strength of a young tomboy, Carrie, who wanted her divorced parents back together. When everything looked impossible, she got two ghost-brothers to promise to help her. The twist was that the two brothers were civil war veterans who served on opposite sides; One brother for the north, the other for the south. Jack's last script he called "The Spirit Lives On."

Now, as the plaintiff, the Marine vet was facing a new battle with the New Jersey courts as the defendant.   A battle even more intense than he ever fought in. In the end, Jack would want federal criminal corruption and fraud charges brought against a number of high level New Jersey Supreme Court lawyers for protecting one of their own.
*

To handle his divorce suit, Jack hired a locally well-known, law firm out of Morristown, New Jersey, Maynard & Truland, LLC. When he hired Maynard & Trumand he did not know they were so well-known, powerful and state-wide influential (for themselves). Like most fathers, he informed the law firm partner Joe Truland and his divorce attorney that his greatest concern was to get fair custody rights for his two minor children. He also informed them in detail that he was PTSD-disabled from heavy combat in the Vietnam War. He told the law firm's lawyers about his disability because it was a major part of his life and hoped that they would give him a little more courtesy (Jack would be totally wrong about getting extra courtesy, even though they were his own law firm). He also told them about his PTSD because he did not want it to be used against him in custody rights, which was common practice in veterans with PTSD divorce proceedings.

He signed their contact, paid them an agreed upon retainer check that the law firm cashed within three days. He expected a routine handling of his case, but things only fell apart from there. It was as if his lawyer and law firm did not care he had PTSD. Sometimes, it felt like that they were even trying to take advantage of his own disability. Eventually, the law firm even mocked his disability in sworn attorney ethics certifications to the New Jersey Supreme Court. But it all just made him angry and motivated that much more.

From the first days, because of no of action from the law firm, court-required deadlines were missed and Jack's needs were ignored. Jack's lawyer was not even returning his phone calls. For whatever reason, the firm was grossly inadequate in their handling of the divorce suit even allowing for it to enter into default; a fact they neglected to tell Jack until it was too late. On the way out the door to visit his older sister in a NYC hospital, who was getting a major operation for lung cancer, the third to have cancer, he was notified by mail from family court that he was now in divorce default for no activity on the case. The misrepresentation given by the firm was so poor that Jack's own ex-wife wrote to the courts complaining about their woeful behavior saying that Jack was, for all intents and purposes, representing himself.

All that the firm managed to do was overcharge him an extra $25.00 an hour over the contracted rate that they had agreed on. What made it ever more disgracefully, interesting was that right in the Maynard & Truland law firm's own printed Invoice was that they were billing Jack for their own Divorce Default removal. The Maynard & Truland law firm was completely acting without attorney ethics. To Jack, he felt that they were acting above the law. He could not understand why they were doing this. Again, he even thought that they might be taking advantage of his PTSD disability. He could not understand it. This was his own law firm that he already had paid. His stress was building. It had nothing to do with the divorce. It all had to do with his own law firm's unprofessionalism.  But he wanted to fight back. PTSD vets were not there to be taken advantage of. Just like he fought to save the innocent people of the Duc Duc Refugee Village, Jack felt he was battling to save future PTSD vets and even average New Jersey citizens from discrimination and fraud. No one should be above our laws.

Jack was rightfully angry over how he had been treated and took his case to the New Jersey Supreme Court local, State Attorney Ethics Committee. This would lead to even further problems for Jack since a lawyer of Maynard & Trudell actually served on the Ethics board: Robert Correale. Robert Correale's law firm's website listed Correale as not only being on the same committee, but listed Correale as their Vice-Chairman.             This Robert Correale was the same lawyer who was supposed to serve on Jack's behalf in court but never once spoke and was obviously unprepared. Cunningham soon faced an enemy far more stealthy and far more cruel than that of the Viet Cong decades before. He was now going to take on the cold, faceless courts of New Jersey and, later, the Federal justice system.

In total, Jack was in 'Divorce Default' for almost 4 months, because of lack of any activity from his law firm. It was up to the judge, but he could lose all custody rights to his children, because of this default. To say that he was worried would be an understatement. He was terrified about losing his children. That is why he hired the law firm in the first place.  He reached out to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) repeatedly for advice but they could not give him legal advice. His doctor documented it all very well in medical records and recommended hospitalization. In spite of how he was feeling, he knew that he could not go into a VA hospital. His children's custody was even more at stake. He had to battle his own law firm. The VA doctor increased his medicine.

The first response Jack received from the State Ethics Committee was one that simply stated he should get a different attorney. Get a different attorney while in a divorce default that his first attorney got him into. This, of course, was far from satisfactory: what about the horrible representation Jack received by the law firm and, by extension, Robert Correale? A document, sent by Correale to the same Ethics committee that he was on the board of, defended his law firm. The ethics violations that Jack alleged were to be investigated by- of all people- Robert Correale and the other lawyers on the committee, who Correale supervised!

In any other setting, this would be considered an extreme violation of the legal system, a major Conflict of Interest in the very least. However, it was permitted. A series of questionable events would occur which illustrates the grave injustices that Jack has faced for over 17 years. Correale would use his influence on the Ethics committee to remove himself and his law firm, Maynard & Truland from blame and, later, court recordings related to a future law suit (mentioned below) "disappeared" before they could be officially transcribed.   Finally, if that weren't enough, Correale mocked Jack's struggle with PTSD and brought a lawsuit claiming that he owed his law firm an additional $2,000.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Graves handling Maynard & Truland's open bill law suit threw their suit out but not before adding that Jack gathered enough evidence to warrant his own lawsuit for Legal Malpractice against Robert Correale and his law firm Maynard Truland.   Jack felt it was like a dream. He was going to get justice against this gang of corrupt lawyers. And he did it; at least his evidence did. He felt, "Not bad for a PTSD vet."

A few months later, Superior Court Ronald Graves remarks could not be recovered for the court transcript, when Jack was preparing for his legal malpractice suit. The part of the court audio where Judge Graves said that Jack's evidence warranted the law division for damages went missing.   Supreme Court Attorney Robert Correale and his law firm Maynard & Truland had friends in high places. How all of this occurred seems like a wild conspiracy that could only be pure fiction but it's all true and it plagued Jack daily. His PTSD was going through the roof and Jack's VA doctors wanted to hospitalize him for the exacerbation.   Already reeling from a divorce and his ongoing struggles with PTSD, he had to deal with the bureaucratic nightmare of the New Jersey legal system. He had to continue fighting.   Besides, who would ever believe this was happening to him. He was a PTSD vet. He was all alone in this fight just like so many times thirty years before in his CAP unit in Vietnam.

Soon, though, Jack wouldn't be alone. Many are familiar with the Marine Corps motto: "Semper Fi" which stands for "Semper Fidelis" which is Latin for "Always Faithful".  Indeed, the Marines were always faithful to Jack as a number of the Marines he served with in the past- and a number of other vets who learned of his struggle- reassured him that he was NOT alone in his fight.

Jack led a letter writing campaign that went all the way up to then-governor James Mcgreevey, who sent a return letter. Jack's letter stated that if the Office of Attorney Ethics had Robert Correale own State Attorney Ethics board investigate Jack's case it would be a major Conflict of Interest and ethics violation.   After months of writing and Ccing everyone in the New Jersey State Government, Jack finally received a letter from New Jersey's Supreme Court Director of Attorney Ethics that they realize there is a Conflict of Interest, if Robert Correale own attorney ethics committee investigated him and his Maynard & Truland law firm. This was a small victory for Jack but he went on. The investigation was moved to another nearby ethics committee and a few of the involved lawyers were told to write up sworn certifications of what was their version of Jack Cunningham's charges against them. One of the law firm's partners, Joe Truland was strangely excused from writing up his own sworn certification.

In about two weeks, the Maynard and Truland sworn certifications were released to the NJ Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics, along with copies to Jack. These Certifications were filled with perjuries, vague, misleading and contradicting statements. Robert Correale had the most detailed certification, which was filled with the most perjury, vague and misleading statements. Being a NJ Supreme Court Attorney Ethics committee member himself, he was probably used as the biggest liar for a reason. In two areas of his sworn certification, Correale even openly mocked Jack's PTSD.   Nothing was questioned. Strangely, the certifications were accepted by the committee supervisors without question with no supporting documentation and evidence as well.    What made it even more stranger was the fact that Jack himself supplied detailed evidence and documents:   the law firm's own contract, invoices, court filed letters, court filed documents, and even official-federal Veterans Affairs Medical Records that highlighted the impact the corruption and fraud was having on Jack's PTSD. All the committee supervisors had to do was review Jack's evidence and compare it to the certifications. The committee sat on their decision for months. In a bizarre twist, Robert Correale and his law firm were cleared of any wrongdoing despite obvious perjury in their certifications. The fact of Superior Judge Ronald Graves' transcript went missing was never addressed by the Office of Attorney Ethics. Also, all the evidence that Jack sent the office was never mentioned.

Jack's letter writing campaign did not die down. He would write and send key pieces of evidence to New Jersey Governors Richard Codey, Jon Corzine, and the current Governor Chris Christie, but he never received a return letter from any of their offices. Like all politicians, before news cameras, each of these New Jersey governors praised veterans and highlighted the importance of giving veterans their rights, respect and benefits that they earned. But they could not even return a letter to Jack addressing New Jersey's denial of his due process.

Jack's life has not been all bad, though. He remarried and has been with his wife Joan for fourteen years. He and his ex-wife Alice- who herself recognized the overwhelming odds Jack is up against- remain on friendly terms. Their children, now adults are all successful. As strange as it may sound to many, Jack and Joan have even been on a number of family vacations with his adult kids, their children and with his ex-wife. He also stayed close with his ex-wife's family. He will always be called Uncle Jack. They all even spend holidays together throughout the year. Over the years, people have often teased him that he has two wives. He just feels that he has an extended-inner family. He still goes to regular VA therapy sessions for PTSD and now resides in Sussex, New Jersey.

Jack is something of a local and internet celebrity, because of all of his successful veteran advocacy causes. He uses his data processing skills. He still keeps mostly isolated though. Four causes he is especially proud of: Helping to save the USS ARIZONA Marine Remembrance Memorial at Pearl Harbor. (See Below) Writing a poem and getting it produced addressed to all Vietnam veterans from America. To this day, some Vietnam veterans have asked to be buried with a copy of it. The third and fourth causes are helping to push every year for a Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day on March 29 and getting a song 'Welcome Home' by Eric Horner and Lee Greenwood (God Bless The USA - Proud To Be An American fame) written and produced about Vietnam vets.   Everything Jack does is nonprofit. Sometimes his causes actually cost him money. But he says that he does them, because he gets more out of it than money can bring.

His family only grew both in strength and in numbers during Jack's legal battles: he has five children and three step-children along with nine grandchildren. He continues his therapy for PTSD and has managed to keep ahead of his mental struggles. In February of this year, Jack finally received even more support for his efforts when a veterans foundation agreed to connect him to a team of pro bono lawyers for his future federal court case. But for reasons beyond Jack's control, the pro bono lawyers were unable to supply Jack with their support. He's still again forced to represent himself to bring justice to New Jersey Supreme Court Office of Attorney Ethics.   But Jack has a history of fighting alone, or with a few tough supporters. He is just as determined. He strongly believes that this type of fraud and corruption coming from this extremely important state agency can be triggered against any and all average New Jersey citizens, or any citizen across our nation, who do not have connections to power and corrupt influence.   Jack does not consider himself a PTSD veteran who is looking for pity. He does consider himself just an average, American Patriot fighting against injustice in government.

The proud, Marine Vietnam veteran knows the federal civil court battle will be even more intense than he ever fought. It's him as PRO SE and his strong evidence up against the name and reputation of the New Jersey Supreme Court.   In the end, Jack would want federal criminal corruption and fraud charges against a number of high level New Jersey Supreme Court lawyers for protecting one of their own. He would also like federal charges brought against the tag-team of Maynard & Truland lawyers who started it all.

There is no argument about Jack's heroic military service. His actions were above and beyond the line of duty and he should be recognized for it rather than discredited as a crazy, weak, unbelievable old man. The VA's motto comes from the words of Abraham Lincoln: "To care for him who shall have borne the battle" and these words should influence all of our attitudes to the soldiers who have returned home with even greater personal struggles in their future. Should our government- who swore to take on the responsibility of caring for every last soldier living or dead- be allowed to throw Jack to the curb? His story is just one of many other struggles that veterans have been forced to face , and it's a grave injustice that we can allow this to happen in this great country. So ask yourself this Veteran's Day, this Memorial Day, or any other day: Should outrages like these be covered up and forgotten, or should they be used to open our country's eyes so our country's finest can be helped in the future?

A Constitutional Attorney's Comments:

John "Jack" Cunningham's case against the State of New Jersey is interesting.

Statute of limitations issue is bogus… fraud has no limitation in federal court, and Statute of limitations runs from the time the fraud is found… It is an act to deceive, an act of fraud, an act to manipulate due process, - sanctions should be implemented – One of many cases spell this out… Referring both to the objective and subjective elements, we have held that qualified immunity would be defeated if an official "knew or reasonably should have known that the action he took within his sphere of official responsibility would violate the constitutional rights of the [plaintiff], or if he took the action with the malicious intention to cause a deprivation of constitutional rights or other injury." Harlow et al v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800; 102 S. Ct. 2727; 73 L. Ed. 2d 396; (1982). (Emphasis added)

File a civil suit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (federal court) - file this Civil Complaint under U.S.C. 28 §1331, federal question, civil actions arising under the Constitution, under U.S.C. 42 §1983, a civil action for deprivation of rights, and U.S.C. 42 §1985 a civil action for Conspiracy to interfere with civil rights against all Defendant’s you can list (growing list below)… you can do it pro se and file an application to proceed indigent… all documents are on the District of New Jersey (federal court)’s web site…
State courts have concurring jurisdiction over this type of civil suit, it can be filed in state court BUT Federal Courts are more easygoing with Pro Se writings, minor errors in format and rules etc… And if a state attorney represented anyone, the challenge here would be if he was authorized to do so… i.e. an application filed for their service, defendant within the scope of employment… etc… if not.. it was fraud…
Check out the principles of the Noerr-Pennington Doctrine… first Amendment Rights… you may have further elements to build your case…
Void Judgments, move to vacate previous judgments for harmful errors, constitutional violations, fraud… etc… all forms and docs you need are on the court web sites.

            ...................................................................
USS ARIZONA Marine Remembrance Memorial at Pearl Harbor
Band of Marine Brothers,

One of our own needs your help. He has mine.

As you obviously know if you are reading this, Jack Cunningham's "Proud CAP Marine" blog and e-info efforts reach a great number of Marines, friends and families of Marines as well many active duty Marines from the past. I've found it to be a powerful tool.

A couple of years ago, I was the Operations Officer for the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, on the waterfront between the USS ARIZONA and the USS BOWFIN. The Commandant of the Marine Corps was the featured speaker at the dedication of the USS ARIZONA Marine Remembrance, 10 November 2006. The National Park Service, which administers the USS ARIZONA Memorial is renovating all of Halawa Landing, the site of the Marine Remembrance. The Regional Director of the Natl Park Service Western Region, Jon Jarvis, stated on the local TV news that the Marine Remembrance would be removed. I challenged him on that statement and convinced him that would not happen without a fight. I passed the word to Jack, who in turn asked his readership to email Jarvis that the entire USMC would make every effort to have him relieved of his duties if he moved that monument. I was copied on many of the emails to him from Marines, their friends and their families that it nearly fried my computer. And...it worked. In order to save his job, Jarvis backed down. The Remembrance now belongs to the USMC and has its' rightful place in direct view of the USS ARIZONA.

That campaign showed me the power of the internet when focused on a meaningful issue. As I'm sure you also know, Jack has had an ongoing battle with the State of New Jersey regarding the way he was treated by corrupt politicians. We can help him. Marines take care of Marines. I ask you to join me in a vigorous e-mail campaign (And phone call campaign) to Congressman Scott Garrett as well as Gov Jon Corzine (And now Governor Chris Christie) to demand an investigation. The contact addresses are listed below. We never leave a Marine on the battlefield - lets not leave one to the criminal politicians. Join me in protest.

Semper Fidelis,
Colonel John R. Bates USMC (ret)
jrbatesusmc@aol.com

John "Jack" Cunningham Asks YOU To Join His over 31,000 Total Supporters   https://www.causes.com/campaigns/39358-vietnam-vet-asks-you-to-join-his-nearing-30-000-supporters

Please Sign John "Jack" Cunningham Petition To: Governor Chris Christie and All Honorable NJ Legislators:    https://www.causes.com/actions/1746185-american-war-veterans-petition-to-governor-chris-christie     (Nearing 27,000 have already signed)

THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE IN THIS CORRUPT STATE - OVER 3,300 VIEWS IN JUST OVER...
Please give your comments at: http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-jersey/2835164-new-jersey-state-corruption-vietnam-veterans.htm ...