John C. Cullen
On a foggy June night in 1942, Seaman 2nd Class John Cullen came face to face with history—German spies who had just landed on a beach in Amagansett on their way to sabotage the American war effort. Through his swift actions, Mr. Cullen intercepted what could have been a costly blow to the U.S. during World War II.
Mr. Cullen, who had been living in Virginia since his retirement from Dairylea Milk Company, died Monday, August 29. He was 90.
Born October 2, 1920, in Manhattan, Mr. Cullen enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard soon after Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor. The night of June 13, Mr. Cullen, who was 21 at the time, was just starting out on his patrol on the beach in Amagansett when he happened upon two men at the waterline, just half an hour’s walk from the lifesaving station.
“It was so foggy that I couldn’t see my shoes,” he said during a U.S. Coast Guard interview in 2006. When the German spies realized they had company, they lied and said they were fishermen from Southampton. In reality, four spies had just arrived in a German U-Boat and rowed to shore in a rubber boat with explosives and thousands of dollars in cash. With plans to bury the explosives and head to the Amagansett railroad station, one of the saboteurs, George John Dasch, tried to bribe him.
“I said, ‘Gee, I don’t want to be implicated in this. I don’t want any money,’” he said in the interview. “And I thought, ‘who’s going to believe this. I’d better get the money.’ So he offered me a couple of hundred bucks.” Mr. Cullen made off with $260, fooling the spies, and sounded an alarm that led to their eventual capture. He remained on the beach all night as a member of the search party and later offered incriminating testimony before a special military commission conducting the trial of the German agents.
Peter Koper of Springs, who is a producer and writer for television and films, wrote a screenplay, “Nazi Invasion of the Hamptons,” based on Mr. Cullen’s experience on that foggy night. Having researched and read thousands of pages from Mr. Cullen’s military commission testimony, Mr. Koper believes the story is one of great importance.
“History pops up,” he said. “These historical moments might seem very tiny, but they do have an echo. Mr. Cullen will be remembered for being an average Joe who did his job and did it well. He’ll always have his footnote in history.”
Survivors include his wife of 69 years, Alice Cullen; a son, Wayne Cullen; a daughter, Jean McLaughlin and her husband, Thomas; five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren; two sisters, May Donnelly and Edna Beaver; and a brother-in-law, Kenneth Nelson, and his wife, Bette.
A funeral was conducted with U.S. Coast Guard Honors on Friday, September 2, at the Great Bridge Chapel of Oman Funeral Home & Crematory in Virginia.
on Sep 6, 2011