Gov. Chris Christie has ordered flags to fly at half-staff on all state buildings to mark the passing of a New Jersey veteran who had been the oldest living recipient of the Medal of Honor.
Nicholas Oresko, a Bayonne native, was deployed to Europe in 1944. The Army master sergeant was badly wounded as he single-handedly took out two enemy bunkers during the Battle of the Bulge in 1945. He died Oct. 4 at a New Jersey hospital at the age of 96.
In 2011, the World War II veteran became the nation's oldest living Medal of Honor recipient.
Christie signed the flag order Wednesday.
When Oresko was honored in 2010 with a Bayonne school being renamed for him, he told NBC 4 New York, "I'll be gone in a few years. I'm almost 94 but my name will be there, it'll be great."
A funeral service is scheduled for Oresko on Thursday at The Anna Maria Ciccone Theatre on the campus of Bergen Community College in Paramus.
