By Jeanne Wall Published June 24, 2023 at 10:14 PM Mission accomplished-80 years later: A longtime Middletown resident, SSgt. Thomas P. Culkin, eighty years after his B-17 was shot down over Belgium, and he became a prisoner of war in World War II, is now honored, 37 years after his death, with not one, but two Purple Heart Medals. On Monday at the Middletown headquarters of Congressman Chris Smith, a special ceremony was held with members of Culkin's family that included his children, a son-in...
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Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) delivers opening remarks while chairing a congressional hearing exposing the rampant antisemitism and anti-Israel bias at the United Nations and international organizations around the world. Leading human rights defenders and experts today sounded the alarm over the rampant antisemitism and anti-Israel bias that pervades the United Nations and international organizations across the globe at a congressional hearing chaired by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) that brought the criti...
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Due to security restrictions at the naval base, advanced registration is required. To register for the event, click here or call Smith’s office at 732-504-0567. A United States Service Academy Information Night will be held on Wednesday, July 12th from 5:30 to 7:00pm at Naval Weapons Station Earle, 201 Highway 34 in Colts Neck, NJ, announced Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester). The event will provide important information for high school and college students—and their parents, counselors or teacher...
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Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, chaired a congressional hearing today calling attention to the plight of ethnic Armenians who are being blockaded and threatened by the government of Azerbaijan. “Our country simply cannot accept a risk of ethnic cleansing or genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh,” said Smith, who called for the United States and international community to commit to supporting Nagorno-Karabakh before it is too late. Smith’s hearing—entitled “Sa...
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Carly Baldwin, Patch Staff Eighty years after his B-17 was shot down over Belgium and he became a prisoner of war in World War II, the late SSgt. Thomas P. Culkin, a longtime Middletown resident, was honored with a Purple Heart. In a ceremony held in Middletown on Monday, Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) presented two of Culkin's daughters with the Purple Heart he longed for and tried to get, but was denied by the U.S. Defense Department. “This is a proud day for the family, and their history,” s...
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Jerry Carino Asbury Park Press On May 14, 1943, Thomas Culkin was a 21-year-old gunner on a B-17 bomber that got shot down over Belgium. The crash killed two crewmates, but Culkin survived with a shrapnel wound in his back. That soon became the least of his problems. Culkin was captured by German soldiers and imprisoned, beginning a two-year ordeal during which he escaped and injured his spine and leg while jumping from a train, was beaten nearly to death by the Gestapo upon being recaptured, an...
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U.S. Rep. Chris Smith presented posthumous Purple Heart medals to Thomas Culkin's daughters Kathy Maurer and Joan Manley during a ceremony at his district office in Middletown Monday, June 19, 2023. Culkin was a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II and a longtime Middletown resident. THOMAS P. COSTELLO/ASBURY PARK PRESS
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Eighty years after the late SSgt. Thomas P. Culkin’s B-17 was shot down over Belgium and he became a prisoner of war, Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) on Monday presented two of his daughters with the Purple Heart he longed for and tried to get, but was denied by the U.S. Defense Department. "This is a proud day for the family, and their history,” said Smith, who had contacted the Army and the Air Force on behalf of Culkin’s daughters, Kathleen Maurer of Tinton Falls, Joan Manley of Red Bank, and...
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Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) joined Fox Business reporter Jeff Flock at the Manasquan Inlet to discuss the independent investigation he secured from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) into the potential irreparable harm that New Jersey’s unprecedented offshore wind development could have on the environment, the fishing industry, military operations, navigational safety and more:
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Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) joined Fox Business live from Middletown, NJ to call attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal genocide against the Uyghurs, severe religious persecution and egregious human rights abuses as President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken court Chinese dictator Xi Jinping. Smith also discusses his legislation (HR 638) that would revoke China’s special trade privileges and require China to stop its horrific human rights violations if it wishes to enj...
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