"My Name"

            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.