Lieutenant Commander Paul Gurnon, USN (Ret.) may be the only living Rhode Islander to have a geographical feature named after him. In recognition of his overall service in Antarctica, the US Geologic Survey named a section of Marie Byrd Land after him – Gurnon Peninsula. Gurnon enlisted in the Navy before Pearl Harbor in 1941, and spent much of his career at Quonset Point. The Wakefield resident was one of the last enlisted pilots in the Navy when he was commissioned as an officer in 1961. In August of 1967 LT Gurnon was transferred to VX6, the unique Antarctic Support Squadron for Navy Operation “Deep Freeze”. He retired from the Navy in 1971.