Meadow View Patient Receives Purple Heart

Theodore Kosiavelon lives at in North Reading, and received a Purple Heart after being injured while serving in the Navy during WWII.

Kosiavelon was born in New York City, and his family moved to Lowell when he was 14-years-old. His uncle heard that he was swimming in the canals in the city and immediately took him to the YMCA for swimming lessons.

“That was one of his loves. He loved the water, loved to swim,” his wife, Ruth Kosiavelon said.

His love for the water was his inspiration to join the Navy in 1942. Soon after, he became part of the first class of the Salvage Diving School on Pier 88 in New York City, where he was certified to dive 125 feet. 

To get an idea of the training he went through, you could watch the movie Men of Honor starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., his wife said.

Not long after he graduated, he was assigned to a dry dock on Manus Bay in the Philippines. In April of 1945, after he finished his watch, he stood on the barge where he often liked to sleep because he could see the stars. It was around midnight when the barge was hit with a Japanese torpedo. The torpedo went under the barge and blew a hole in the dry dock. The collision caused a chain holding large oxygen tanks in place to break, and seven men including Kosiavelon, were injured.

Kosiavelon was pinned by one of the oxygen tanks, which injured his leg. He and the other men injured received Purple Hearts after the incident.

After he recovered, he continued to serve for the rest of the year.

“He was always very proud of his service time,” his wife said.

After he left the Navy, he worked at Hanscom Field for many years until he retired. He is 90-years-old now, and has lived at Meadow View since he had a stroke last March.

“He's getting good care there,” his wife said.