Ocean County Leader

Late veteran injured in May 1943 B-17 shoot down & in Sept. 1943 POW camp escape

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) 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. “On June 19, 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.

Original source can be found here