Justin Joseph McCarthy Jr.

Justin was born in Jamaica Plain, MA on November 28, 1945 to the late Margaret Adrienne (White) and Justin Joseph McCarthy, Sr.. He moved to White Plains, NY in 1950 where he attended St. Bernard’s elementary school, Archbishop Stepinac High School and White Plains High School. He moved to Carmel, California in 1961 to live with his aunt, Julia Chalmers, who guided his formative years. He attended Carmel High School and Monterey Peninsula College before graduating from Long Beach State with a degree in Economics. He also studied at Thunderbird Graduate School in Phoenix, Arizona.

His military career, which started at Fort Lewis, Washington, spanned four decades beginning in the 1960's and took him across the globe. He served as a member of the U.S. Army's Special Forces Unit, the Green Berets, in South Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere in the Far East. He was an expert at underwater demolitions and excelled at tracking, marksmanship, and parachuting.

Later in his career, which included time spent in Okinawa, Germany and several undisclosed locations, he served with the U.S. elite anti-terrorist unit, Delta Force. On separate occasions he completed advanced training courses at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California where he became fluent in several languages. At the end of his career he helped to teach the premier Polish counterterrorism unit, the GROM. After his service, Rusty returned to Carmel and retired.

Rusty is survived by his siblings: Susan McCarthy, RDC, Adrienne Laravuso, Alice McCarthy , Peter (Lorraine Raguseo) McCarthy, Patricia McCarthy (Bill) Smith, Paul (Donna Kearney) McCarthy, and Timothy McCarthy. One brother, Gerard, predeceased him.

His extended family includes Julia Chalmers’ son, LTC Paul Chalmers, (Ret.), her son-in-law Jan Valtr and his children Jan Jr. and Julianna. Rusty’s siblings are especially grateful to Julianna and her husband Ric Cespedes for their loving, compassionate care of him during his final days. Rusty was a loving, generous man. He was a great story teller and loved to regale people with his exploits. He spoke often of his gratitude to his parents, aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins for their contributions to his life. He was a gift to us all.

Funeral services will take place at St. Angela Merici Church in Pacific Grove on Saturday, April 30 at 11:00.