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... Read more

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... Read more

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 Read more

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... Read more

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: Read more

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... Read more

The Government Accountability Office (GAO)—the independent congressional watchdog—has officially agreed to launch an investigation into the impacts of New Jersey’s offshore wind development on the environment, the fishing industry, military operations, navigational safety and more, announced Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) today. “This aggressive, independent investigation into the ocean-altering impacts of the 3,400 offshore wind turbines slated for the Jersey Shore will help address the wide-ranging ... Read more

Pat McDaniel,Patch Staff Regina Mullen has finally received official acknowledgement of what she, as a nurse, has known for more than a year - that her son's death during Hell Week training in February 2022 came about from inadequate medical treatment. Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, announced Thursday that top Navy officials briefed him and Mullen, of Manalapan, on the findings of a long-anticipated “command” investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of her 24-year-old son, Kyl... Read more

While chairing a congressional hearing today, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), called on United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres to use his influence to dissuade the Chinese government from forcibly repatriating an estimated 2,000 North Korean refugees who could face torture, sexual assault, forced abortion, forced labor, and possible execution upon their return. “Beijing must not be complicit in the plight of North Korean ... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today welcomed the unprecedented agreement reached by Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to allow members of the Foreign Affairs Committee to view the dissent channel cable that was sent by 23 officials at the US Embassy in Kabul just one month before President Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. “The Biden Administration has failed to provide the truth to the American pe... Read more