Seaman Mitch Barnett, Fort Lee, served in Vietnam in the Navy Reserves as a Preventative Medicine Technician and is April’s Bergen County Veteran of the Month!
From 1969-1970, Mitch was called into action and deployed to the Marble Mountain Air Facility located south of Da Nang city in Vietnam.
There, Mitch was on the frontlines when it came to treating wounded soldiers as well as handling weapons and munitions, including Agent Orange, which he and countless of other Vietnam veterans suffer from long-term health defects due to exposure.
Born in Brooklyn, NY, he graduated from the Fashion Institue of Technology after his time in the service and worked in the textile industry since 1977, also moving to Fort Lee.
Since then, Mitch would spend his free time writing, and playing tennis and basketball at various recreational centers in NJ and NYC, even considering going semi-professional.
He would also go on to marry Marci, who was a tremendous influence on his life. She passed away in March 2024.
In 2006, Mitch rescued Katrina, a Louisiana Catahoula Leopard Hound mix. Since then, Mitch committed more towards writing, publishing various short stories about Katrina and his time in Vietnam, his most notably being “When We Die, We’re All Going to Heaven Because We’ve All Been Through Hell.”
In 2018, Katrina sadly passed away, and Mitch currently owns a German Shepard mix named Lacey, whom he loves very much.
Mitch is still an active member of the Fort Lee VFW #2342, loves listening to some Golden Oldies and watching The People’s Court in his spare time. He celebrated his 75th birthday on March 27th.
We thank him for his service to our nation!
Nominate a Veteran for #BergenCountyVeteranOfTheMonth
Do you want to light up the face of a special Veteran? Have you been wondering how to tell your Veteran they are special to you?
The #BergenCountyVeteranOfTheMonth social media feature is an opportunity to highlight your Veteran and his/her service.
It’s easy to nominate a Veteran. Visit our blog post about nominating to learn how to create the best submission.
Bergen County Division of Veteran Services
The Division of Veterans Services was established in 1977 to provide resident veterans and their dependents with information and assistance in obtaining earned entitlements from federal, state, and local governments, as well as any that are available from the private sector.
Through a quarterly newsletter and direct client contact, the division provides Bergen’s veterans organizations and their auxiliaries and individual residents with up-to-date benefit information.
