Jackson Dominick Arnold (November 3, 1912 – December 8, 2007) was a four-star admiral in the United States Navy who served as Chief of Naval Material (CNM) from 1970 to 1971.
Early life and education
Arnold was born in Gainesville, Florida, the first of five children of U.S. Army Major Albert C. "AC" Arnold and the former Irene Dominick. A far-ranging adventurer, AC Arnold had fought in the Boer War on the side of the Boers; joined the Seventh Cavalry as a trooper; been a riverboat gambler; fought beside Brigadier General John J. Pershing on the Mexico Punitive Expedition; been awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for actions with the 1/326 Infantry at Château-Thierry during World War I; gone to law school; and been assigned to several positions in the peacetime Army before rejoining the Seventh at Fort Lewis, Washington, where he died in 1932.
Jack grew up in army postings around the United States. He was proud of accidentally "taking the chicken" from then-Colonel Douglas MacArthur while serving MacArthur dinner in Washington, D.C. MacArthur informed Jack that he was the second Arnold to take MacArthur's chicken; during World War I, AC had taken an entire chicken dinner from MacArthur while he was in a bunker during a shelling.
Career
Jack was appointed to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland from Fort Lewis, Washington, where his father was serving as judge advocate general for the Seventh Cavalry and was responsible for federal law west of the Mississippi River. Jack lettered in tennis at the Naval Academy, and graduated with the Class of 1934 at the age of 21.
Like all Naval Academy graduates of the time, he served his first tour in what is now the Surface Warfare Community. After two years aboard the battleship Arizona as her Number 4 Turret Officer, he was selected for training as a naval aviator. Designated Naval Aviator 5551 upon graduating from Pensacola in 1937, his orders were signed by Captain William F. Halsey.
Naval aviator
His first assignment as a naval aviator was as Material Officer with Torpedo Squadron Six, flying Douglas TBD Devastators aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise on her maiden voyage, which included a goodwill tour of South America. During a port call in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lieutenant (junior grade) Arnold was awarded a medal from the government of Argentina for saving the life of President Roberto María Ortiz during an assassination attempt. Arnold attended the state dinner that night in his dress whites, complete with blood spatters at the President's request.
In 1938, he was assigned as the Senior Aviator for Cruiser Scouting Squadron Eight aboard the light cruiser Savannah, flying Curtiss SOC-1 Seagull floatplanes. His most memorable aviation experience occurred during this tour when he performed night test flights to see if a floatplane could be operated in blackout conditions at sea. The conclusion was that it could, but probably not with the same pilot for more than one flight.
His next assignment was to Ford Island, Pearl Harbor in 1940, as the Engineering Test Pilot, where he met his wife-to-be, Muriel McChesney.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, then-Lieutenant Arnold made his way to Pearl Harbor under fire. After quite a bit of trouble convincing the crew of a whaleboat to take him to Ford Island, his normal duty station, he finally got to the island. There, during the middle of the first wave's attack, he fired up the only flyable Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter on the island. A ground crew member crawled up on the wing telling him, "You can't take this airplane!" "The heck I can't, get off my wing!" Arnold replied. "But it doesn't have any ammunition!" came the response.
Arnold jumped out of the airplane near the base of the airfield control tower and picked up a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) from a Marine who did not need it anymore. A member of the All Navy Pistol Team and a longtime pistol and bird shooter, Arnold was an excellent marksman, and shot down a torpedo plane coming in to strafe the new control tower next to which he was standing. The plane crashed on the field. Between the two waves, Jack and a couple of sailors went over to look at the wreckage. Discovering it belonged to the first wave's Torpedo Squadron Commander, they drank the downed pilot's sake and returned to the battle. That kill from the ground was later to make Jack the only known pilot who shot down five aircraft (one with a BAR, two with a Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber, and two with a Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter) who was not an ace.