Roxbury father and son vets share bond

ROXBURY - Jim Cullen and his son fought in wars nearly six decades apart, but the pair share a special bond, a tale of two “Eleanors” that stretches from the Battle of the Bulge to present-day Afghanistan.

Cullen, 92, of Succasunna, was in the 3rd Armored Division during World War II, arriving on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France,  after D-Day.

He was the commander of Eleanor, a half-track, meaning the vehicle had two front wheels and tank treads in the back. It was used to carry men into combat, held 50-caliber and 230-caliber machine guns and carried 11 men, including the commander and driver. The Army-green vehicle was called E-12 for “E Company, 1st platoon, 2nd squad,” but the crew nicknamed it Eleanor, writing it on the side of the vehicle.

Cullen went on several missions in Eleanor, during two of which he was wounded. He was hit in the chest by shrapnel and was shot in the leg during the Battle of the Bulge, which was the last time he saw the Eleanor.  Cullen was later granted the Purple Heart medal for his service.

At the conclusion of the World War II, Cullen said many of the U.S. military’s half-tracks were given to allied armies in the event of future battles.

“I like to think Eleanor kept on fighting,” Cullen said.

Cullen’s son - Jim Cullen II - grew up hearing stories of Eleanor and what the men in his company were like.

“My dad's World War II service was always very visible to me in the scars he carries on his body.  The nerves in his left leg were severed below the knee, and to this day, he has no sensation in that leg. His chest has deep shrapnel scars.  When you grow up around that sort of thing, it makes you think about what your father has been through, and why he went through it,” Cullen II said. “I grew up with a lot of curiosity about World War II and the men who served in that war, and with a lot of admiration for the sense of duty, service to country, and personal sacrifice displayed by those men.”

From reading through his father’s old books and photos from the war, specifically from the 3rd Armored Division, to wearing his old Army jacket that was tucked in the back of the spare bedroom, Cullen II became fascinated with his father’s service.

The two built scale models of World War II vehicles together, including one of Eleanor.

“He spent a lot of time studying old pictures to make sure it was done accurately,” Cullen II said. “He even melted a large hole through the armor of the gun ring on top to recreate the damage from a German tank shell punching a hole through the real Eleanor during one battle where my dad was injured and other men died.”

Making the model sparked conversations about the men assigned to Eleanor. Cullen II heard stories of his father running toward danger, under fire from German tanks, to save his men.

“The concept of ‘service of others above self’ sunk in, and inspired me as I continued on to careers in law enforcement, emergency medical services and the military,” Cullen II said. “Based upon my father's example, I always tried to take care of my people and put the men and women I worked with first.”

Now a retired Morristown police officer and a  lieutenant commander in the Coast Guard stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, Cullen II, 52, first went into active duty following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In 2009, working on the Coast Guard’s Redeployment Assistance and Inspection Detachment team, he was given a sand-colored Humvee when he arrived in Afghanistan and decided to give the vehicle a special name.

“When I found myself in a combat zone and in charge of a group of military members, I tried to think of my father's example in the way I conducted myself,” Cullen II said. “When I found myself assigned an armored vehicle of my own, I didn't hesitate to nickname her Eleanor II.  My dad is James Cullen, I'm James Cullen II, so the ‘II’ reflected that.”

The Coast Guard would not let him put the name on the outside of the Humvee, so he wrote it on the dashboard.

“In honor of my men who traveled all those miles, and me, too, I suppose, he called it Eleanor II,” Cullen said. “I was very, very proud of what he did. It’s a rare instance that a son can name a combat vehicle after his father’s. It’s a great honor, a couple of tears were shed.”

Cullen II used the Humvee with the redeployment team to make sure military equipment and dangerous materials left the combat zone safely before heading home.

Eleanor II was eventually retired and now sits in at the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum in Cape May.

“I'm happy that Eleanor II was designated as a historic artifact by the Coast Guard Historian's Office and shipped home intact from Afghanistan in 2013,” Cullen II said.  “She is publicly displayed with a plaque that references my dad's service and the sacrifices of the brave men who served with the original Eleanor in World War II.”

The original Eleanor was given new life in the early 2000s, when an Oregon historical group reached out to Cullen and crafted a restored version of the half-track for use in re-enactments.

That restored half-track was later sold to a collector in Hartford, Connecticut, who Cullen II tracked down two years ago for his father’s 90th birthday. Cullen II surprised his father with the news that he’d found it by riding Eleanor in a video he showed during his father’s birthday party.

Together the two of them then traveled to see the vehicle, even riding in it together for the 2013 Hartford Veterans’ Day Parade.

“He got to climb up into the troop commander's seat of Eleanor, right where he rode when heading into combat in the 1940s, next to an engraved plaque naming all the men who served with Eleanor, wearing his old Third Armored Division jacket,” Cullen II said. “I had the honor of driving dad's old vehicle while people waved and thanked him for his service.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't choked up.”

At the time he served, Eleanor was just a machine he and his men used, but decades later, thanks in large part to his son, Cullen sees that half-track as much more.

“My track carried us all the way through combat, but I didn’t get the significance of it until what Jim did for me, to remember all those guys who got killed,” Cullen said. “I’m proud of all he’s done.”

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@GannettNJ.com