Navy Vet Honored For Service

HAMPTON BAYS, NY — Once again, Hampton Bays students paid tribute to a local hero, honoring U.S. Navy veteran Timothy Fennelly by flying an American flag in his honor throughout the month of October.

“The district is proud to honor Mr. Fennelly for his bravery and service to the United States,” said Superintendent of Schools Lars Clemensen.

Fennelly, of Hampton Bays, was recognized at a ceremony on Oct. 18 at Hampton Bays Elementary School, where middle school students in the district read his biography.

Fennelly was born in June, 1946 in Dearborn, Michigan, and raised in Detroit. He remembers listening to Motown music from a young age as he grew up with seven brothers and one sister. In July, 1964, just after graduating from Lincoln Park High School and deciding that he wanted to serve his country, he followed two of his brothers into the Navy.

Fennelly attended boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Station. While there, he was selected as training company commander — mainly because, in his opinion, his "booming voice" was great for counting cadence and giving commands, the district said.

After boot camp, he volunteered for submarine training at Groton, Connecticut, but because a car accident had damaged his eardrums, Fennelly could never pass the submarine pressure tests for submarine service.

In January, 1965, Fennelly was assigned to the USS Newman K. Perry (DD-883), a refurbished Gearing class destroyer in the Boston Naval Shipyard. The ship’s first assignment was to be the flagship for destroyer squadron anti-submarine operations, or DESRON. Fennelly went from trying to serve on U.S. subs to tracking and destroying enemy subs, district officials said.

After a "shakedown cruise" in Cuban waters, the Newman K. Perry was assigned to the Mediterranean Sea with approximately 200 NATO ships; their assignment was to protect aircraft carriers from foreign subs and to rescue downed NATO pilots, Fennelly's bio said.

During operations one night, the destroyer collided with the carrier Shangri- La, resulting in 40 feet of damage to the bow and the loss of U.S. sailors. The crippled ship had to sail in reverse all the way to a shipyard in Naples, Italy, for repair, the district said.

In May 1966, the ship received orders for Vietnam. After stops in Cuba, the Panama Canal, Pearl Harbor, Japan and the Philippines, the ship arrived in the Mekong Delta at Phu Quoc island, providing fire support for U.S. Army ground operations. The Newman K. Perry was fully engaged in the “brown-water Navy” of the Vietnam War; in November, 1966, the ship and crew were exposed to Agent Orange, the district said.

Fennelly, however, said he has not suffered any ill effects from that experience, although many of his shipmates have.

Fennelly returned from Vietnam in June 1967 and was honorably discharged from the Navy as an E-5 the following April. While visiting a shipmate from Riverhead shortly after returning from Vietnam, he met his first wife, Elizabeth, a Hampton Bays resident, and chose to stay in Hampton Bays rather than return to Michigan.

One of Fennelly’s most pleasant memories of his service, he said, is the camaraderie he shared with his shipmates on the Newman K. Perry. He added that he believes many Vietnam veterans were treated poorly after returning to U.S. soil and is glad to see that veterans today are treated with more respect.

Upon arriving home, Fennelly joined the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, where he rose to the rank of sergeant as a park ranger. In 1972, he joined the ranks of the Southampton Police Department, where he served for 20 years before retiring as a detective. In his retirement, he started his own security company, which he ran for 37 years, the district said.

Fennelly married his second wife, Susan, in 2000, and they are enjoying a wonderful retired life together. He has three sons, one daughter and six grandchildren, and he is an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, as well as the Rotary Club of Hampton Bays.