My name is Noah Tiffany Barringer and the
story about my last name is a rather unique one. When my father was just two weeks old, his father was shot
down and killed in the Korean War.
At the young age of 26, Lieutenant Albert Rowe
Tiffany was the pilot of a F4U-5N Corsair night fighter with Composite Squadron
3 aboard the carrier USS PRINCETON (CV-37). On April 22, 1951, while on a
combat mission 17 miles south of Wonsan, North Korea, his aircraft received a
direct hit by anti-aircraft fire, crashed and burst into flames. To this very day, his remains have
never been found. My father was
born on April 2, 1951, and was named Craig Allan Tiffany. After a few years of trying to raise
two young children alone, my grandmother remarried a Naval Commander by the
name of Malcolm Barringer. Malcolm
took a real liking to my father and aunt, and while they were still very young
their middle names were changed to Tiffany while their last names were changed
to Barringer. Since Malcolm was
the only father my dad knew, at the age of eighteen my father chose against
changing his name back to Tiffany.
Instead, my father kept Tiffany as his middle name to keep in the
family. When I was born, my mother
and father decided to give me the middle name of Tiffany so that our “true”
family name can continue for generations to come. I have decided that when I am fortunate enough to have
children, I am also going to give my children the middle name of Tiffany. Albert Rowe Tiffany was a true American
hero that paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country, and I think by keeping
his name in the family is the least I can do.
