Profile in Service
Paul Kearney - Patriot

About one year ago I met Paul Kearney of Laguna Niguel, CA, for the first time. I had no idea that I would be writing about him one year later. I asked Paul if he had any interest in letting us hear some of his background. I knew he had been in the Navy and thought his story might interest the membership. I am proud to know men like this. They have helped make America the greatest nation on the face of the Earth.

Auxiliarist Kearney with Lt. Marc Whitaker, Commanding Officer of the USCG Cutter Narwhal.

He was born near the town of Melrose, Iowa (Pop 880, about 872 were Irish), at the beginning of the Great Depression. Being born into a dirt-poor family of seven, and then with the subsequent birth of two sets of twins and three other children in the next seven years, they became a family of sixteen, counting Mom and Dad!

Both of his grandparents emigrated to the U.S.A. from Limerick, Ireland during the devastating “potato famine,” 1845 -1849. Paul’s family was so close to starving that his parents gave he (age 6) and his sister (age 10) away to another family relative, who could afford to feed them. This arrangement didn't last long because they ran away from the family relative and made their way back home. They told their father, “We would rather starve at home, than be fed by strangers who made it obvious that they did not want us there.”

Despite the realities of a very difficult childhood, Paul has a great appreciation for the toughness he developed that allowed him to survive during those dark and tough times in our country. It also motivated him to achieve some significant accomplishments in his life.

He has had nearly 63 years of uninterrupted public service. Said service started with five years in the US Navy’s Underwater Demolition teams 1&3. The first two years with the team were in China, assisting General Chiang Kai Chek's escape to Formosa (now Taiwan). They took one half of the Chinese national treasure with them. This was during the takeover by Mao Tse Tung and his Communist Army.

He then spent three years in several battles of the Korean War, participating in the following battles; Masan, Wonson, Inchon, Hungnam, Pusan and others.

Upon Discharge from the Navy and while still in the Reserves, Paul immediately became a California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer. Due to injuries incurred in the line of duty, after only eleven years, he was forced into early retirement from the CHP.

Later, he was able to qualify as a U.S. Treasury Agent and served twenty years before retiring as manager of an area exceeding 12,000 square miles of the South Eastern portion of California. Still not content to retire altogether, Paul became a licensed Private Investigator.

Paul has enrolled in the Auxiliary 1989 and has served in many capacities during those twenty one years. He is currently the Flotilla 68 Human Relations Officer. Thank you for your service Paul.

 

 

~CC 02/11/11