Lifelong Cranford Resident, Cop, Marine Veteran Honored

CRANFORD, NJ - Deployed to Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, lifelong Cranford resident, U.S. Marine Squad Leader and current Patrolman Ryan Gerrity is being honored by the Cranford Police Department as part of National Military Appreciation month.

Gerrity graduated from Cranford High School in 2008 and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. In January 2009, he left for basic training in Parris Island, South Carolina and from basic training he attended the School of Infantry in North Carolina and then he was assigned to 3rd Battalion 3rd Marine Division in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

In May 2010, he deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom where he served as a SAW gunner while overseas and returned from Afghanistan in December 2010. He was deployed a second time in 2011 to Helmand Province, Afghanistan where he served as a Team Leader and eventually a Squad Leader while on his second tour of duty.

Marine Corps Medal

On his second tour of duty, an Afghan Army soldier was patrolling with Gerrity’s platoon as support. The Afghan soldier was walking as point man during the night patrol, while he was sweeping for IEDs with his metal detector. While sweeping in the roadway suddenly a vehicle driven by an Afghan local came down the road at high speed and struck the Afghan soldier launching him and the vehicle into a deep canal along the roadway. Gerrity was awarded the Navy Marine Corps Medal for saving the life of the local and Afghan Soldier.

He and his platoon rescued them from the canal, rendered medical attention, and eventually got the Afghan soldier onto a medical helicopter to a hospital.

He returned from his 2nd tour of duty in March of 2011 and was honorably discharged in 2013 as a Corporal.

Corporal Gerrity’s awards are as follows:

• Navy Marine Corps Medal
• Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal
• Combat Action Ribbon
• Navy Unit Commendation
• Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
• National Defense Service Medal
• Afghanistan Campaign Medal
• Global War on Terrorism Medal
• Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon
• NATO ISAF Medal

Gerrity was hired by the Cranford Police Department in 2014 and then attended the John H. Stamler Police Academy. He is currently assigned to the Community Policing Unit of the Investigative Division and is also a member of the Command Post Unit, Firearms Training Unit, Crisis Intervention Team, Special Operations Team, and the Union County SWAT Team.

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