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TagsObama recognized veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan
Lt. Cmdr. James Cullen, a Coast Guard reservist from Jefferson Township and a Morristown police lieutenant, was among the service members honored at a White House dinner by President Barack Obama on Feb. 29.
Cullen, a member of Portsmouth, Va.-based Coast Guard Training Team East, was the sole Coast Guard reserve member selected to attend the dinner, titled “A Nation’s Gratitude: Honoring the U.S. Troops of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.”
As a reservist, Cullen had multiple mobilizations under Operation Iraqi Freedom. he spent three years in New York supervising law enforcement teams conducting offshore security boardings of large vessels approaching the harbor from overseas. He then served for a year as the supervisor of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia’s Redeployment Assistance and Inspection Detachment team 11 in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Bahrain and Oman, after which he was awarded an Army Commendation Medal and an Army Achievement Medal, along with other awards. Cullen is now in charge of Coast Guard RAID Team training.
“We are here to represent all of the Coast Guard men and women who served in this theater of operations,” Cullen said. “Thousands of Coast Guardsmen have supported and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. It’s an honor and a privilege to be here ensuring their service and sacrifice is not forgotten.”
As a Coast Guard 9/11 first responder, Cullen was awarded the Department of Transportation 9-11 Medal, the Coast Guard Commendation Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.
On the dinner table in the White House, Cullen placed a photograph of Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Bruckenthal, a New York native who was killed in action while defending against a suicide boat attack on an Iraqi oil terminal. He said, “Our shipmate needs to be remembered here tonight.”
Cullen was raised in Succasunna and graduating from Roxbury High School. After high school, he joined the Morristown police department and moved to Jefferson while attending college. He enlisted in the Coast Guard Reserve in 1997 and received his commission as an officer in 2001. He earned a master’s degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a law degree from Rutgers Law School.
—TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
