CINNAMINSON — Serving on a mine sweeper in the height of the Vietnam War didn’t even compare to the shock Kurt Myers felt when he received the news.

“I was dumbfounded,” the township resident said. “I was speechless. I didn’t know what to think. My baby’s getting fixed.”

The 65-year-old U.S. Navy veteran’s 2003 Dodge Dakota pickup truck is being given a new lease on life as the winner of CollisionMax’s Metal of Honor Project, a program offering free auto body repair jobs to nearly a dozen veterans in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

“The Metal of Honor Project is our way of saying thank you and honoring the men and women of our armed forces who put their lives on the line for all of us,” said Jim Tornetta, president and CEO of CollisionMax.

The family owned and operated company began the project in June and plans to transform 11 veterans’ vehicles over the next year. Winners are selected from nominations submitted from the public to the project’s website at www.metalofhonorproject.com.

Myers became the third veteran to be chosen.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Myers said. “It’s amazing. I really have never won anything this big before and to be recognized as a veteran after all this time is just really special for me.”

A native of Florham Park, Morris County, Myers moved to Bethlehem, Pa., where he graduated from Liberty High School. He attended college for a short time but decided to join the Navy in 1968.

“I had a friend that was in the service who loved it,” he said. “I tried to get in the Air Force but there was a two-year wait.”

Despite the turbulent times, Myers felt it was his duty to enlist.

“I wanted to do my part,” he said. “My draft number was so high, so that wasn’t going to happen. And I wasn’t going anywhere where I was and I thought the service might be the way to go.”

The next thing the petty officer third class knew he was aboard a minesweeper and found himself ducking exploding mortar shells while on shore in the Vietnamese harbor city of Danang.

After four years Myers returned home to a country in turmoil.

“When troops came back from Desert Storm there were accolades, parades, motorcycle rallies,” he said. “We never got that. I was participating in something that no one wanted to have anything to do with but I was just doing my part.”

After he finished college he began a 30-year career as a model maker with stints at a company in Levittown, Pa., and then one in Runnemede, Camden County, before retiring in 2006. He works part time at Wegmans’ wine shop to supplement his income, but a costly auto body repair job on his truck was out of the question.

“It was looking pretty pitiful (but) money’s kind of tight so it wasn’t worth the deductible to get the little dings and dents fixed.”

That is until he got the call from representatives of CollisionMax.

The company’s field marketing coordinator Jim Tornetta Jr. said he loves that they are able to do these projects.

“We want to honor the veterans,” he said. “In addition to that we want to get the community to know who these veterans are.”

And why not considering that these are the people who are willing to give their lives in service of the country, Tornetta Jr. said.

Besides, the program allows the company to reach out to the community in a way they typically don’t get a chance to do given most of its interaction with the public comes after a motor vehicle accident.

Whatever the reason, Myers said he couldn’t be happier and more thankful.

“This is amazing to me,” he said. “I’ve never been recognized as a veteran until this project. This is incredible to finally get my truck fixed. It’s my baby.”

But he’s not in a hurry to get it back since the auto body shop gave him a 2014 Mustang convertible to use while the work is being done.

Todd McHale: 609-871-8163; email: tmchale@calkins.com; Twitter: @toddmchale