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Shaun Thomas (Underdog), OSC
to remember
Arnold, Jackson Dominick, ADM USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Gainesville, FL
Last Address Encinitas, CA
Date of Passing Dec 08, 2007
Location of Interment Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Wall/Plot Coordinates CBBB 3 82
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
After moving around the country and being at sea for years, Arnold retired to Rancho Santa Fe, California, where he built a home of his own design for himself and his wife Muriel. They were both active in the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club and other activities in the community.
In retirement, Arnold stayed active in aviation, joining the Cubic Corporation Board of Directors, the Golden Eagles, the San DiegoAerospaceMuseum and various other naval aviation oriented groups. Ever the artist, he continued drawing and working in his garden. Occasionally, he would put an entry into the Rancho Santa Fe Garden Club show, almost always gaining a ribbon or two. Towards the end of his life, Jack spent most of his time in his living room watching television. He loved to watch cavalry, western, and action movies. A particular favorite was Walker, Texas Ranger.
Although the Arnolds had no children of their own, they were very close to their families, the McChesneys and the Arnolds. They spent a lot of time with their nieces and nephews over the years. Somehow the assignments always kept them near their family and they got an opportunity to be with them. Leading by example, he passed his values throughout the family: God, honor, country, politeness, and preparing for all of life. Muriel passed away on February 18, 2004.
Arnold died in Encinitas, California, on December 8, 2007, at the age of 95. He was buried with full military honors in FortRosecransNationalCemetery, next to his wife.
Other Comments:
Navy Cross
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Battalion: Bombing Fighting Squadron 2 (VBF-2)
Division: U.S.S. Hornet (CV-12)
General Orders: Commander Fast Carrier Task Force: Serial 0438 (August 20, 1944)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Commander [then Lieutenant Commander] Jackson Dominick Arnold (NSN: 0-73500/1510), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Fighter Plane and Group Commander and Flight Leader in Bombing Fighting Squadron TWO (VBF-2), attached to the U.S.S. HORNET (CV-12), during action against enemy Japanese forces in the First Battle of the Philippine Sea on 20 June 1944. Participating in a strike against hostile surface units, Commander Arnold scored a damaging near miss on a carrier and directed his flight in damaging and probably destroying the enemy vessel and in obtaining a torpedo hit on a cruiser. After leading his flight back to base, he assisted several in his group in landing under extremely difficult conditions and in darkness before boarding his carrier. By his skill as an airman and leadership, Admiral Arnold upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Fifteen 6in/47 guns (five triple turrets)
Eight 5in/25 guns (/38 on St Louis, Helena) (eight single positions)
Eight 0.5in guns
Four aircraft
Crew complement
868
Laid down
31 May 1934
Launched
8 May 1937
Completed
10 March 1938
Stricken
1 March 1959
The Savannah was laid down in May 1934, launched in May 1937 and commissioned on 10 March 1938. After her shakedown cruiser she visited Britain as part of American preparations for a possible outbreak of war in 1938. After returning to the US she was allocated to the Pacific Fleet. She was based in California from June 1939 to May 1940, then at Pearl Harbor from May 1940 until June 1941 when she was allocated to the Neutrality Patrol in the Atlantic.
Arriving on 12 January 1942 off of  Recife, in Brazil, the Savannah was with the USS Ranger watching the Vichy French warships that were trapped at Martinique and Guadaloupe.
The Savannah was part of the fleet that supported Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. She formed part of the Northern Attack Group (Rear Admiral Monroe Kelly), which had the task of landing 9,099 men under General Truscott at Mehedia in Morocco. On 8 November she fired on French guns that were shelling the invasion fleet. On 9 November she performed a most unusual role, sending her spotting planes to attack a tank column with modified depth charges! This was repeated on 10 November, before on 11 November the fighting at Mehedia ended. The Savannahremained off North Africa for another four days, then returned home.
January 1943 she joined the South Atlantic Patrol, based at Recife, Brazil, and given the task of stopping German blockade runners. On her second patrol she was one of two American warships to intercept the German blockade runner Karin. The Germans destroyed their own ship before she could be boarded, killing eleven of an American boarding party in the process. The Savannah took on seventy two German prisoners.
In May the Savannah left Norfolk with a troop convoy heading for the Mediterranean to take part in the invasion of Sicily. On 10 July she provided fire support for the 1st Infantry 'Rangers' as they landed at Gela. For the first time she came up against determined Luftwaffe opposition and three of her four spotter planes were shot down on the first day of the invasion.  Through out July, she provided fire support to various allied forces. Â
On 8 September the Savannah was the first American warship to open fire on the German shore defences at Salerno. Over the next few days she carried out shore bombardment duties to assist the badly pressed troops fighting at Salerno.
On 11 September she suffered the blow that effectively ended her active career. The Germans had developed a number of remote controlled anti-shipping weapons. On the morning of 11 September a glide bomb narrowly missed the Philadelphia. A few minutes later a FX1400 radio controlled bomb launched from a Dornier Do-217 hit the armoured roof of Number 3 Turret. The bomb went straight through the turret and exploded in the lower handling room, part of the magazine. A large hole was blown out of the bottom of the ship, and water reached 152ft along the ship. Secondary explosions followed for the next 30 minutes, but the rapid flooding helped prevent a disastrous magazine explosion.
Although the Savannah was very badly damaged, her crews managed to seal off the affected areas, and by 17.57 she was able to set off under her own steam. She lost 197 men in the attack, with fifteen seriously wounded. Four men were trapped in a watertight compartment and could only be rescued after she reached Malta.
The Savannah wasn't able to depart from Malta until 7 December, nearly three months after the attack. She reached Philadelphia on 23 December. It took eight months to carry out full repairs, and the chance was taken to improve both her secondary armament and her anti-aircraft firepower.
The repairs were completed by September 1944. She was allocated to Fleet Operational Training Command, then in October rejoined Cruiser Division 8. In January 1945 she escorted the Quincy (CL-71) as it carried President Roosevelt across the Atlantic on his way to the Yalta summit. She remained in the Mediterranean until the President returned from Yalta then escorted his convoy back across the Atlantic. From March to May 1945 she was used as a training ship for the crews of new ships that hadn't been commissioned. She then became the flagship of a Midshipman Training Squadron.
Her last active role was to carry out two 'Magic Carpet' missions across the Atlantic. The first saw her bring 1,370 men and 67 officers back to New York from Le Havre. The second ended on 17 December, and two days later she began to prepare to be inactivated. She was placed in the reserve on 22 April 1946 and decommissioned on 3 February 1959. She was finally struck off the Navy List on 1 March 1959 and sold for scrap in 1966.
