Local D-Day veteran presented with flag flown over Capitol months after 103rd birthday

At 103 years old, Joseph “Pat” Tully has a few pieces of advice he offers people.

“Keep going, looking ahead. Life is good. You never know what waits ahead,” said Tully, whose birthday was in February.

One of few remaining D-Day veterans, Tully was given an American flag Thursday that was flown over the White House, presented by U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

Despite his age, Tully remains jubilant, often cracking jokes and laughing with his whole body. Completely mobile, he works out six days a week, and after hitting 100, limits himself to one glass of white wine an evening. When asked how he is doing, he responds, “Hanging on,” and feigns grasping the edge of a cliff.

“103 years old and just a life well-lived,” McMorris Rodgers said. “I was honored to be able to help celebrate him and his life.”

Born into a farming family in Sprague, Washington, in 1921, Tully lost his father at age 8 to pneumonia and witnessed the stock market crash of 1929 shortly after. During the Great Depression, he saw butter and eggs used as currency for services such as doctor appointments, which in some cases involved the doctors having to walk miles through winter storms to reach their house.

He attended St. Joseph’s Academy in Sprague for his primary schooling, often bragging that he graduated eighth in his class before revealing that there were only eight students in the grade.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, a 20-year-old Tully enlisted in the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army. He greatly enjoyed and excelled in the technical training he received, and was then stationed in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.

In April 1944, Tully boarded a ship to Liverpool – a trip that took 13 days. When he arrived, he worked with radio signals, though he said it was a chaotic affair. He recalls watching the ships go out to Normandy.

“One day the harbor was full, the next morning it was empty. Ships started coming back bringing survivors they picked up,” he said. “You could tell it was a bad deal. War is bad anytime, but it was especially bad that time.”

It is estimated that the total death toll for Allied and German troops on D-Day alone stands roughly between 8,500 and 13,500, according to the Associated Press. Thousands more would lose their lives in the ensuing battle of Normandy.

“You think of all those young people, the prime of their life,” Tully said. “That’s enough to make you cry right there.”

Following the liberation of Paris, Tully was stationed at the Eiffel Tower – an experience that he referred to as “a little embellished” in its retelling. He described how the elevators to the top of the tower, where the radio station he was working with was, didn’t run in the winter. For the months he was there, he had to climb up the open spiral staircase every few days.

“I looked over the edge, I saw all of Paris out there. The steps were icy. A little handrail,” he said. “Yeah, I wouldn’t do that now.”

After Germany surrendered in 1945, Tully was shipped out to the Pacific War, where he and the troops prepared for the invasion of Japan. Japan surrendered as they were on their way over, so they were diverted to Manila in the Philippines.

Upon returning to the U.S. months later, Tully was discharged as a staff sergeant. He returned to Eastern Washington and, thanks to his expertise from the Army, got a job in Spokane with the phone company. He worked there for 32 years as a technician and manager.

Born Catholic, Tully is an active member of the Spokane branches of the Knights of Columbus Council (683) and Bishop White Assembly (1539).

Tully married Betty Corcoran in 1947, and the pair had six children, eight grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. Betty died in 2014 after 67 years of marriage.

Although he wishes to return to Normandy, Tully said that he doesn’t like to fly and “might not make it.” He said that he has “had his tour,” though, citing the various countries he visited while serving in the Army.

In reflecting on his life, Tully describes the many great technological advances he has witnessed, such as the invention of the transistor in 1947.

“That brought on probably half of today, with computers and artificial intelligence, I suppose,” he said. “I don’t know anything about artificial intelligence.”

Tully describes himself as being on the steep stretch of an exponential curve of change.

“Going from, not quite a covered wagon situation, but in the early 1920s most things are pretty primitive,” Tully said. “Now, you can look and see what happens – rockets to the moon.”