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Ron & Lois Ford
and 3 others have purchased flowers for the family of Retired Captain Thomas Gaffney. Send Flowers
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Gentiva posted a condolence
Friday, January 6, 2023
Our thoughts and prayer are with your family
Gentiva
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David Felak posted a condolence
Tuesday, January 3, 2023
To Carolyn and Family,
Please accept our sincere condolences on Tom's passing. I had the pleasure of playing golf with Tom a few times and enjoyed every minute. I was in awe reading his obituary about his many accomplishments and want to thank him again for his many years of service even in his passing.
Please know that you and your family are not alone as we also are sharing of your sorrow.
Sincerely,
Dave and Shirley Felak
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Paulette and Gary Carbaugh posted a condolence
Monday, January 2, 2023
We moved in behind Tom and Carolyn about seven years ago and started a friendship that will always be in our heart. Tom wasn’t feeling well at that time but he pushed himself. He was such a character, as we all know, but I know for sure he loved his wife and children with all his heart. He was a very humble man. It took a number of years before we heard about his military career. I loved making things he liked to eat and he was especially fond of sweets. I loved walking in and he’d have a big smile on his face as if saying, ‘what do we have today?” Carolyn, Tim and Susan, he was a special man. Our sympathies and prayers. RIP, Tom til we meet again.
Gary and Paulette Carbaugh
Aiken SC
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Ron & Lois Ford purchased flowers
Monday, January 2, 2023
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Ron & Lois Ford
purchased the Warm Thoughts and planted a memorial tree for the family of Retired Captain Thomas Gaffney.
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Lois and I both have been thinking about you we are so sorry for your loss. Captain will be missed but never forgotten
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Ron & Lois Ford planted a tree in memory of Retired Captain Thomas Gaffney
Monday, January 2, 2023
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Lois and I both have been thinking about you we are so sorry for your loss. Captain will be missed but never forgotten
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Bob and Pat Giraud purchased flowers
Monday, January 2, 2023
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Bob and Pat Giraud
purchased the Patriotic Florist’s Choice for the family of Retired Captain Thomas Gaffney.
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Carolyn, Our thoughts and prayers are with you and the Gaffney family. Celebrating an amazing person and sad of his passing.
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Jim Schlax posted a condolence
Sunday, January 1, 2023
Cpt. Gaffney was an inspiring combat leader.
jim schlax 1st. plt. A co. 3/506 Vietnam 1967-68
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Kathy Culver posted a condolence
Saturday, December 31, 2022
It was my honor to serve such an amazing man and family in his last year of life, as he unselfishly served our country to provide the freedom allowed to me to care and serve for him. I felt like a family member from the day I walked into their home. Rest in peace Mr. Tom until I see you again in glory!!
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Jay Eckhart posted a condolence
Saturday, December 31, 2022
As an eighteen-year-old PFC, I joined Alpha Company of the 3d Battalion of the 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Infantry Division in July of 1967 right out of Jump School. The commanding officer of Alpha Company was Captain Tom Gaffney, better known as "Sir" to his face and "The C.O." to anyone else. I can't say that I ever had any one-on-one interaction with Capt. Gaffney and he, to my knowledge, never gave a speech while I was under his command. What Capt. Gaffney did do was lead from the front, especially in Vietnam. His voice could be heard over the din of the fight giving instruction and talking on the radio to our fire support elements. He would not hesitate in taking the appropriate action. To say that Capt. Gaffney was the apotome of a professional solder is an understatement. His mere presence and example made every man in the company strive to be the best solder they could be. Every man knew that the war could claim them at any moment. We also knew that Capt. Gaffney would do his utmost to prevent that from happening. This PFC, for one, is grateful that I was assigned to Alpha Company under the command of Capt. Thomas F. Gaffney.
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Mark (Doc) Jones and Gary (Flint) Purcell purchased flowers
Saturday, December 31, 2022
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Mark (Doc) Jones and Gary (Flint) Purcell
purchased the Freedom for the family of Retired Captain Thomas Gaffney.
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Our deepest condolences to our Captain's family Captain, you will always be our hero, thank you for your leadership
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Gary and Paulette Carbaugh posted a condolence
Saturday, December 31, 2022
Carolyn and family, Gary and I will surely miss Tom. Living behind you for seven years, having our chats, making Tom happy with goodies and seeing him smile made my day. You both became like family to us. No more suffering for Tom. Carolyn, you were a dedicated wife to him to the very end. May you Rest In Peace, Tom. We love you.
Gary and Paulette Carbaugh
Aiken SC
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The family of Retired Captain Thomas Francis Gaffney uploaded a photo
Saturday, December 31, 2022
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Mark Jones posted a condolence
Saturday, December 31, 2022
First of all my deepest condolences to Carolyn and the family. Like my buddy Ronny Ford said- Captain Gaffney was 10 feet tall! The Vietnam War was hard and the Tet Offensive was nearly unbearable. But we were all young paratroopers and our Company Commander was the best the Army ever had! If you served under Captain Gaffney you felt a little more secure. You knew there weren't going to be any foul ups- he insisted that everyone did their jobs to the highest degree. We would have followed our Captain anywhere- he was responsible for making decisions that saved many lives. Airborne, my Captain, it was a privilege. Doc Jones
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Christine Geraci Free posted a condolence
Saturday, December 31, 2022
Capt. Gaffney's leadership of his company in Vietnam has had a lifelong impact on these veterans. It was my privilege to know him, and I always appreciated the few times that he shared memories of my Dad with me. The world is a sadder place with his passing. My sincerest condolences to Caroline and all of his loved ones.
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Anonymous purchased flowers
Friday, December 30, 2022
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Anonymous
purchased the Gift Of Peace and planted a memorial tree for the family of Retired Captain Thomas Gaffney.
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With deepest sympathy,
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A
Anonymous planted a tree in memory of Retired Captain Thomas Gaffney
Friday, December 30, 2022
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With deepest sympathy,
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Joe Jerviss posted a condolence
Friday, December 30, 2022
My dearest condolences to the Gaffney ‘Ohana. We lost a good man who was born here in Hawai‘i. Aloha Nui to Tom Gaffney from PSG Joe Jerviss (Pineapple) Bravo Company
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john harrison uploaded photo(s)
Friday, December 30, 2022
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Tom Gaffney
by: john harrison
On a recent Saturday morning I was to be the referee at my son’s Montgomery County Swim League swim meet. One of the principal jobs of the referee is to blow his, or her, whistle at appropriate times during the meet to move things along. This happens regularly during these meets.
I keep my whistle and my badge of office as a certified official on a lanyard by the back door of our home. When I was ready to leave on that Saturday morning, the lanyard and the badge were right there where they were supposed to be, but the whistle was missing.
It is impossible to be a referee without a whistle and it soon became clear I was not going to find mine. However, because of Tom Gaffney I knew where I had a spare whistle. It was about 45 years before when he had given me an olive drab green, plastic whistle, with a black cord attached, and I still had it. Technically I guess I stole it when I left the Army years ago.
When I was 19 or 20 years old I had been commissioned as an Infantry second lieutenant in the United States Army and Tom Gaffney was my first company commander. When Tom was a teenager, he had been drafted into the Korean War. He did so well in Korea that he was given a battlefield commission as a second lieutenant. Tom Chose to remain a sergeant, but he was still a commissioned officer in the reserves but not in active service until he joined Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 506th Infantry, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division in 1967.
He had remained in the Army for 20 years after the Korean War and was about to retire at its highest enlisted rank, Command Sergeant Major, when the Army made him an offer he did not refuse. The Army offered to reinstate his commissioned officer rank and to promote him to captain if he would agree to stay in the Army for only one more year.
The catch was that he would have to go back to Viet Nam, a place he had already been as a Green Beret A-Team member twice before. At the time such an offer was much more attractive that it sounds today. Even a relatively junior officer could expect to spend at most 6 months in the field and the rest of his 12-month tour in a relatively secure rear area. In addition, Tom was only 38 years old and this one additional year in the Army would significantly increase his monthly retirement income.
On the debit side, the war was clearly heating up in 1966, but in the prior 8 years of warfare a total of less than 6,000 Americans had been killed in action. Tom did not know, could not know, that the 12 months we would spend together “in country” would be the bloodiest of the Vietnam War and that far more than double the number that had been killed in the prior eight years would be killed during the time we were there. In fact, of the 58,000 Americans that died in 8 years of a hot war in Viet Nam, almost 1/3 died during the 12 incredibly violent months that we were “in country” together.
So, Tom was the Alpha Company commander in the states and took the rifle company he had trained there to Vietnam. He remained as company commander throughout the Tet ’68 Offensive. After that he became S-3 Air on the battalion staff. When he returned to the states after our tour he received his third Silver Star and retired as a Major.
Tom was always practical, so it was no surprise when he had accepted the Army’s offer. He has the face of a man who takes nothing for granted and he knew far better than most what he was getting himself into.
Tom had his own rules in addition to the Army’s for his platoon leaders. Some of the little rules were that: an officer should always have a pen and something to write on in case he had to write something. An officer should carry a whistle in case he needed to get someone’s attention in the middle of loud situation, like a firefight. An officer never ordered anyone to do something that he would not do himself and finally, that an officer never passed the buck. The orders were always his.
Tom also said that after the Korean War a number of officers had bragged that they had to “throw the book away” to fight that war. It was Tom’s view that these officers had never read the book, and that they had learned the art of war at the cost of the lives of their men. Tom thought that this price was too high. He insisted that an officer should know his job before he started giving orders.
Tom was never cautious about expressing his opinions. He was always demanding. However, he was also a realist and he taught that uncertainty would always be part of leadership, as would loss.
When the war he had volunteered to go back to turned ever more violently ugly, he did not complain. He just continued to do his job as well as he could, and we brought a lot of young men home alive because of that.
And so, for more than 48 years I have always carried a pad and a pen. When I needed a whistle, I knew where one was. I never hid behind my boss. If I had tough orders to give, I gave them in my name, no matter where they had originated.
You do not forget someone like Tom Gaffney, or as he sometimes liked to phrase it, “Mrs. Gaffney’s little boy Tom.” He is an original, an American original and a good one. He and three of his four platoon leaders are still alive 48 years after we first went to war. Given what we saw and what we did, that is simply incredible and a fitting testament to his leadership.
Currahee, Tom Gaffney.
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Ron Ford posted a condolence
Friday, December 30, 2022
Captain my Captain I never had much impact on your life but you certainly did on my life.You we’re ten feet tall and bullet proof and the best Company commander a young teenage trooper could ever hope to have to be led into battle . I’ll always cherish the moments in our later years attending reunions getting three sheets into the wind with you leading A CO. in the song BLOOD UPON THE RISERS at 2:00 am. God bless you Sir I’ll see you on the other side CURRAHEE !
Sgt. Ford A/3/506 ABN. INF
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Gaile Heath posted a condolence
Friday, December 30, 2022
Carolyn, I am so sorry for your loss. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Tom was a great guy and true soldier to the end. Love and prayers, Gaile Heath
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JOE ALEXANDER posted a condolence
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Cpt Gaffney lead young boys into combat and taught us how to be combat paratroopers, men, patriots and leaders.
Thank you Sir!
2Lt Joe R Alexander
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