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 other family members. “Today, a wrong has been made right, even if it’s eight decades later.”

Congressman Smith presented to the family a video discovered in German WW II archives of SSgt. Culkin's actual B-17 being shot down by a German Messerschmidt on May 14, 1943. Click here or on image above to watch.

   SSgt. Culkin was injured when the plane on which he served as a waist gunner was shot down on May 14, 1943. Two other gunners were killed. Shortly after bailing out, he was captured by the Germans. But he and another POW escaped on Sept. 19, 1943, and for 23 nights tried to make their way toward Allied-controlled areas before they were re-captured, emaciated from hunger, injury and exposure, and then severely beaten by the Gestapo as punishment for escaping.  While he was on the run, he badly injured his back and leg after jumping off a moving train. Since 1946, a year after the war, he tried to get the Purple Heart for the train injuries, but was denied because the Army did not consider them combat injuries.

   At a Monday ceremony in Middletown, Smith presented Culkin’s family members with a short video, taken from German war propaganda films, which apparently shows the actual shoot down of SSgt. Culkin’s B-17. Two of the crew perished in the gunfire, but the others parachuted from the burning plane over Belgium and were captured.

   Smith also presented not one but two Purple Hearts to the family: one for shrapnel injuries Culkin sustained when his plane was shot down, and a second for broken bones he suffered from the beating from the Gestapo when he was recaptured. Smith also presented them with the Airman Medal, the POW Medal and other commendations.

   Additionally, Smith announced to the family new legislation he is writing, in honor of and named after SSgt. Culkin, to allow any POW who is injured in an escape, an attempted escape, or while on the run following an escape, to be entitled to the Purple Heart.

   “We are so happy that my father’s wishes have come true. He really tried hard to get it himself,” said Kathy Maurer, noting she believed Rep. Smith met with her father more than 35 years ago about POW issues before he died in 1986. Smith also recalled they had met.

    “My father spoke very highly of Chris Smith because of his work with POWs,” she said, recalling that her mother, Ann Fitzgerald Culkin, often helped her father on POW issues when he was the commander of the New Jersey Department of American Ex-Prisoners of War. When she passed in 2021, Maurer later decided to try to get the Purple Heart her dad deserved. “Mom wanted the Purple Heart for him, too.”

      “Eighty years is too long to wait,” Smith said. “I think the system failed a war hero. SSgt. Culkin believed he deserved this while he was alive, and he was right. I am introducing legislation to also right this wrong for other families of POWs who may have been injured in escape attempts.”

PHOTO: SSgt Culkin dressed in flight gear.

   “No veteran—but especially an ex-prisoner of war who has paid an extraordinarily high price for his country—should have to go through this ordeal,” said Smith, a two-time chairman of the House Veterans’ Committee, and author of 14 laws to help veterans. “I’m sure SSgt. Culkin is smiling down on his family right now, but I would have loved to present these to him in person. I am sure his family would have loved to see him wear it, or display it.”

   In a renewed effort in 2023, Smith reached out directly to the Secretary of the Air Force (click here to read the letter to Secretary Kendall) and the Secretary of the Army (click here to read the letter to Secretary Wormuth) to ask them to help the family get SSgt. Culkin his rightful recognition.

  “I thank the Secretaries for their assistance in this sensitive matter,” Smith said. “For the family, it has made a huge difference, even these many years later.”

PHOTO: On June 19, 2023, Smith presented Culkin’s daughters, and other family members, with:

• The Purple Heart (2)
• The Air Medal
• The Prisoner of War Medal
• The Good Conduct Medal
• World War II Victory Medal
• European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
• Army Presidential Unit Citation, and
• Honorable Service Lapel Pin