James McNulty

Jim McNulty and his wife, Pauline

James Francis McNulty, known as Jim, was born July 16, 1929 in New Bedford, MA to parents Francis McNulty and Mary McNulty nee Cantwell. He has one sister, Geraldine. He and his wife, Pauline McNulty, are the parents of REDdimension Wiki Circle member, Kevin McNulty.

Childhood

Jim was raised in a troubled home. His father fell from a scaffold at work and died when Jim was only three, leaving Jim's mother, a stern and abusive woman, to raise him alone. Ten years after his father's death, Jim jumped at the chance to work on a dairy farm away from his abusive mother. He dropped out of school and left home. He never went back, though for years he sent nearly all of his pay home to his mother and sister. He has not spoken to either one in decades.

Child abuse prevention information

Occupations

He has been a VP and/or General Manager in at least three companies, though he never completed high school. Jim learned electronics in the army, and later through the GI Bill. He has been an engineer for more than four decades, primarily specializing in DC power supply technology, but also developing key designs for:

• Tasertron (now part of Taser, Inc.): A non-lethal area denial device (US Patent 5936183, 5955695)
• Raytheon Microwave R&D Lab: High Power Pulse Modulator
• Grumman Aircraft
  • A-6 Intruder: Track Radar Ground Support Equipment
  • Polaris and PoseidonMissiles: Ignition Inverters

However, he wasn't always an engineer, his previous Jobs include:

• Painter (buildings, not canvas)
• Police Officer, Randolph MA
• Sergeant, US Army Signal Corps - Japanese Occupation Force

Military Career

Insignia of the 25th Infantry Division

Jim left the farm to enlist in the army when he was 17 1/2. Once out of basic training at Fort Dix, NJ and Signal School at Fort Monmouth, NJ, the army loaded him up with arctic gear and promptly shipped him off to join the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii.

The 25th was on its way to occupy Japan. Intelligence said there would only be three Japanese divisions on the island of Kyushu so the army landed six divisions of its own...they wound up disarming 13 Japanese divisions. The 25th occupied the territory in and around the city of Osaka from 1946 until 1950.

Jim got along well with the local people. His signal unit had to hire 39 Japanese engineers, in fact, because their unit was 100 men short. Jim spent over a year in Japan, finally shipping back to the states to Fort Lawton, WA where he was discharged. In his short time in the army, Jim attained the rank of corporal (brevet sergeant).

Jim was discharged in October of 1949 and hostilities in Korea broke out in June of 1950. The 25th Infantry Division arrived in South Korea in July. His old signal unit, having been sent to Korea with an average of only seven rounds of ammunition per person, suffered 70% casualties. Had Jim stayed in the service nine more months, Kevin may never have been born.

Residences

After growing up in New Bedford, MA and travelling with the Army, Jim found himself back in Massachusetts, this time in Randolph. Work eventually took him to Connecticut where he met Pauline.

When he and Pauline were married, they and Pauline's daughter settled in Westbury, NY. Shortly after the birth of their son, Jim accepted a job in California, and the family moved to Westminster in 1966. After moving to Chula Vista, CA for less than two years, the McNulty's settled in Anaheim, CA in 1974. The couple lived in the Anaheim townhome for 30 years, moving in 2004 to a retirement community in a different part of Anaheim.

Family

Jim is the father of three children from his first marriage, and of Kevin McNulty from his current marriage of 45+ years with Pauline McNulty. He also helped raise Pauline's daughter from her first marriage -- she considers him her father and he considers her his daughter, blood or no. Though they had been pitted against their father by their mother, each of his children from his first marriage eventually saught him out as adults, and he now has healthy relationships with all three. Jim is a grandfather to five and a great-grandfather to two.

Jim and Pauline also have an unofficially adopted family which includes many of their friends and their children's friends. They are grandparents many times over to the children of their "adopted" children, and they are never short of people to love and who love them.

Hobbies

• Jim is an avid history buff
• He is an admirer of tall ships and regimental bands
• He has also been a lifetime-long reader

Affiliations

• Society of Manufacturing Engineers
• American Management Association
• National Defense Industrial Association

Achievements

• Jim holds seven US Patents
• He was listed in Who's Who in California Business and Finance in 1980 & 81
• He has published dozens of articles and papers over his career
• Jim was also listed in 2,000 Top Scientists of the 20th Century published in Cambridge, England in 2001

Trivia

• Jim has a thick Massachussetts accent that once almost led to tradgedy. When a child, his step-daughter asked him to turn her bath water on "harder" which he mistook for "hotter" and nearly scladed the poor thing. Disaster was averted in the end.
• Jim was stationed in Japan after the Japanese surrender ending WWII. In 1989, some 30 years later, he and his son, Kevin, stood on the very spot where that surrender was signed when they visited the USS Missouri.
• Jim and son, Kevin, once cruised aboard the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor, thanks to Jim winning a special lottery with the trip as a prize.