A dying veteran dishonorably discharged from the Army in 1955 finally had his discharge upgraded to honorable at the end of September, securing medical benefits and a military burial.

The victory of 85-year-old Needham Mayes of Brooklyn is the latest for a project that New York County Lawyers Association president Stephen Lessard, a Navy veteran, has quietly undertaken for six years. Lessard, a senior associate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, said he worked with his first discharge veteran client when Orrick was doing pro bono work with the Manhattan-based Veteran Advocacy Project.

In 2012, the Veteran Advocacy Project recognized a "huge unmet legal need" for veterans who lacked an honorable discharge, VAP founder and director Coco Culhane said.