80th Anniversary of D-Day
Nov 12, 2024 12:00 PM
Rotarians Max Gurney & Tim McCully
80th Anniversary of D-Day

80th Anniversary of D-Day:  On Tuesday, November 12th,  World War II veteran and Torrey Pines Rotarian Emeritus Max Gurney, with his Honor Flight guardian, Point Loma Rotarian Tim McCully, will give us a review of their June trip to France for the 80th Anniversary of D-Day in Normandy.  

 

     Max served in the U.S. Army 1942-45 as an intelligence specialist in campaigns in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.  After the war, he joined Pan American World Airways, working up from a baggage clerk to retire in 1991 as PanAm’s manager for southern France and Monaco.

 

     Tim served in the U.S. Navy 1976-2006, with twenty years of cruiser/destroyer duty and ten years spent managing Military Sealift Command (MSC) service force ships.  After retiring from active duty in 2006, Tim immediately transitioned to Navy Civil Service and continued managing MSC ships until his retirement in 2020.

 

     Max and Tim were members of a group of 68 WWII veterans flown by American Airlines and Honor Flight to the commemorations of the June 6th, 1944 D-Day amphibious landings at Omaha and Utah Beaches, Pointe du Hoc, and the airborne parachute assault on St. Mere Eglise.  Following the D-Day ceremonies, Max was a Guest of Honor at his Burgundy wine society dinner in Dijon, and then went on to Monte Carlo to celebrate his 103rd birthday with Prince Albert of Monaco.