In the Press...
Asbury Park Press article on Smith's efforts to help a family honor WWII POW'Why it took 80 years for Middletown WWII vet beaten by Gestapo to get his Purple Heart'
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, and endured a two-month forced march through the Alps. “They were dying like flies on our death march,” the longtime Middletown resident told the Asbury Park Press in the early 1980s. “We were sleeping in the snow. Everyone had dysentery and many had pneumonia.”  That changed Monday, when U.S. Rep. Chris Smith presented two posthumous Purple Hearts to Culkin’s family members — two daughters, a son-in-law and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. One was for Culkin’s crash wound, the other for injuries he suffered during his imprisonment and escape.
“What a testimony to your tenacity,” Smith said. “And what a miscarriage of justice not to have gotten a Purple Heart when he should have gotten it.” Four months after Culkin crashed and was captured, he escaped from a prison camp near Munich and was on the run for 24 days before being recaptured while crossing the Rhine River in France. After the Gestapo got done with Culkin, according to a 1983 testimonial from a fellow POW, “he had a broken nose, severe lacerations of the face, broken ribs and a badly injured spine and leg. His broken nose was reset, lacerations stitched and ribs taped.” “My dad was very quiet about his time in the war and in prison camps,” Kathy Maurer said. “The only story I remember hearing as a kid is he said they used to serve up ‘rat soup’ and the rats were swimming around in the soup.” 
Like many veterans of that generation, Culkin said little about the trauma of war. There was no understanding, or treatment for, post-traumatic stress disorder. “I know it had a huge impact on him emotionally,” Kathy Mauer said. “Those men were very stoic and didn’t talk about anything, which probably didn’t help him.” PHOTO: Thomas Culkin
“The primary reason I picked it up is because the younger generations now know very little about what these veterans went through, particularly POWs,” Walter Maurer said. “And I wanted to have a legacy for his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith presents posthumous Purple Heart medals to Thomas Culkin's daughters Kathy Maurer (center) 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. Removing roadblocks Smith got the cause across the finish line, successfully petitioning the Department of Defense for the long-overdue citations. On Monday the congressman presented the family with seven medals all told, including the Air Medal for “heroism or meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight.” 
Thomas Culkin’s great-grandchildren hold the medals he was posthumously awarded during a ceremony at U.S. Rep. Chris Smith’s Middletown district office on Monday. Culkin was a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II and a longtime Middletown resident. THOMAS P. COSTELLO/ASBURY PARK PRESS Why did this take so long? As explained by Smith and Culkin’s family, military members who suffer wounds as prisoners are not always considered eligible, especially if injured during or after an escape. And Culkin’s shrapnel injury incurred during the crash was never recognized, perhaps because it got lumped in as a prisoner injury. On Monday, Smith pledged to introduce legislation “to make it absolutely clear — to make sure our POWs who get injured get that Purple Heart.” A Purple Heart comes with special benefits, including medical priority upgrades within the Veterans Administration and access to the Forever GI Bill, which removes time limits for educational assistance. The roadblocks Culkin faced “had me scratching my head, asking why,” Smith said. His family no longer has to wonder. Into the wild blue yonder:The Air Force history at Joint Base McGuire-Dix Lakehurst Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. |
