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.