The Tinneny Family History Site
 

OBITUARY

William Bruce Tinneny

1925 - 1980 

BRUCE TINNENY DIES; NAVY HERO IN WAR - As a young man he went off to war at age 18 serving in the United States Navy Reserve in 1943.  He signed up after his brothers and several of his pals had enlisted.  And he became a hero in the waters of the North Atlantic war zone. 

W. Bruce Tinneny, husband of Mrs. Dorothea Kottler Tinneny, 4215 Pechin St. died Nov. 18 at home.  He was 55.  He was a member of the Disabled American War Veterans. 

Mr. Tinneny was commended by the Bureau of Naval Personnel for "meritorious conduct during a hazardous voyage."  He was a member of a Naval Armed Guard Unit aboard an American merchant ship that was subjected to repeated attacks by a great number of German submarines. 

Mr. Tinneny's ship struck an underwater object and many crewmembers, through a coincidence of separate signals, believed the order had been given to abandon ship.  They took to the lifeboats leaving the engine room partially unmanned.  Mr. Tinneny hustled to the engine room. 

The Naval commendation in citing his heroic effort said: "Although such action was clearly beyond the scope of your already assigned duty, you unhesitatingly volunteered to take the place of the missing engine room seaman and performed a difficult and unfamiliar task in such a manner that the turbines were kept in operation and a vital cargo was delivered to an ally."  Mr. Tinneny's ship made it to Murmansk. 

The Navy Dept. said that Mr. Tinneny's "outstanding co-operation and unfailing devotion to duty during the emergency were in keeping with the best traditions of the Naval service." 

Mr. Tinneny is also survived by a son Bruce J.; a daughter, Mrs.Gail McBride; four brothers, James; John; Thomas and Donald; three sisters, Mrs. Mary Haughey; Mrs. Clare Kelly; Mrs. Trudy Gallagher; and two grandchildren. 

Arrangements were by Koller Funeral Home, 6835 Ridge Ave. Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated November 22 at St. John the Baptist Church.  Burial was in Westminister Cemetery.  Published in The Review, December 4, 1980.

Bruce was the son of James J. and Gertrude Spence Tinneny of Philadelphia and the grandson of Patrick “Yankee Pat” Tinneny of Goladuff, Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland; Greenock, Scotland and Philadelphia and his wife Margaret Malloy. 

  



 
Updated January 13, 2024
 
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