Posthumous medals for NYer who served with Coast Guard, Army, Navy and Marines in WWII
By APThursday, May 6, 2010
WWII medals for multi-service NYer, 68 years later
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Four medals have been awarded posthumously to a New Yorker who served with four U.S. armed services during the American defense of the Philippines in World War II.
Coast Guard Lt. Thomas “Jimmy” Crotty was assigned to the Navy’s Asiatic Fleet three months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
After the Japanese invaded the Philippines, Crotty served with a Navy mine-removal unit, then later joined Army and Marine infantry companies in defending Bataan and the island of Corregidor.
Crotty was 30 when he died in a prisoner-of-war camp in 1942.
One of Crotty’s relatives received his posthumous Bronze Star, Purple Heart, the Prisoner of War Medal and the Philippines Defense Medal during a ceremony in Buffalo Thursday.
