WW2 veteran honored
By Geri Corey
MIDDLETOWN — More than 70 years after World War II ended, U.S. Navy Radio Technician First Class and Goshen resident Thomas Griffith was awarded four medals and the Honorable Service Lapel Pin for his service at a special ceremony with Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-Cold Spring) on Monday at the Middletown Park Rehabilitation and Health Care Center.
Rep. Maloney presented Griffith with the Navy Good Conduct Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal and the Honorable Service Lapel Pin.
“Nearly seventy years after Tom Griffith was honorably discharged from the Navy, I’m proud to honor the great work he performed as a radio technician serving our country during World War II. Today serves as a testament to all those just like Mr. Griffith who fought and will fight for our nation. No amount of time can ever diminish the debt we owe to all the brave men and women who serve and sacrifice in defense of our freedom,” Maloney said.
By working with the U.S. Navy, Rep. Maloney, along with his staff, was instrumental is obtaining Griffith’s medals.
Griffith, 91, served in the Navy from March 1943 to May 1946. His primary duty was installing and maintaining airfield and harbor communications along with radar equipment. He was a radio technician in Okinawa, where one of the bloodiest battles in the war took place. He also set up airport communications in Ominato and Kisarazu, Japan. He ended his career in Japan with the Occupation forces. He was also a bugler.
Griffith’s daughter, Jean Hansen, was the motivation behind securing her Dad’s medals. “I represent my mother, sisters, and the rest of the family in thanking Representative Sean Maloney and his staff for all their hard work and Park Manor for hosting this affair. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude,” she told family, friends, political and military officials who had come to honor her father.
“It’s fantastic that my daughter went to all that trouble,” Thomas Griffith said. “I never expected it.”
On September 8, 1951, saying it was the “best move of my life,” Griffith married Mary-Gray Swezey.
He opened Thomas E. Griffith Realtors in Pearl River in 1952. He retired from the business just last year.
The couple moved from Pearl River—Tom’s hometown, to Goshen in 1969 and opened Griffith Realtors, which just celebrated its 45th anniversary.
Their first Goshen home was the old “Gates-McGarra mansion” on Route 207. In 1983, they moved into their current home where they have lived for 32 years. They have four daughters.
“You answered the call, and now the nation is honoring you. You had confidence in yourself and your country,” said State Senator William J. Larkin, R—C, Cornwall-on-Hudson. Larkin noted Griffith’s distinction in being selected for the communications division while he was in the Navy. “It was so important to the war.”
Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said “Tom Griffith helped to make our country safe and sound.”
Vincent Maniscalco, Administrator of Middletown Park Rehabilitation and Health Care Center said “We want to thank him for his honor, courage and commitment to this great country.”
“I’m proud of this family for their effort in securing Tom’s medals. I’m proud to see so many of his family members here. He’s a great father, a great man. He lived his life for something bigger than self, more than us. We’re in this together. This serves as a reminder of our responsibility for our gift of freedom—so we can live in a free world,” said Rep. Maloney in conclusion.