Wellington Powers (WP) Arnold was born December 25th, 1920 in Beggs, OK as the eldest of 7 children. During the Great Depression, his family moved to several communities in Oklahoma and Kansas, finally settling in Wichita, Kansas in the late 1930’s. After ROTC training at Wichita State University, he entered active duty with the US Army in 1940 with the rank of Corporal. He tested for Warrant Officer in early 1941 and was accepted. At that time, he was the youngest Warrant Officer in the fledgling US Army Air Corps at the age of 20 years and five months.

During 1941 and 1942, he trained in the Southwestern US and ultimately was deployed to the South Pacific to support the Allied invasion of the Solomon Islands. His unit, the 551st Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion landed on Guadalcanal in October of 1942 and set up operations at Henderson Field. He served as the battalion, S-1 or Administrative Officer.

He and his best friend, Captain Ernest Cecil, the Battalion’s S-3 or Operations Officer were inseparable. When the Battalion deployed to Bougainville, elsewhere in the Solomon’s, the two stayed together despite WP’s bout with Dengue fever. After his recovery, WP rejoined the 551st to support the invasion of the Philippines.

After the end of WWII, WP returned to civilian life as an administrator at the Kansas Army Ordinance Plant and thereafter re-enlisted in the newly organized US Air Force.

During this time, he was first stationed in Rapid City, SD, again promoted to Warrant Officer and then deployed to Korea. After numerous assignments for the USAF, WP retired in 1967. Somewhat later, WP was summoned back to Federal service as an attaché to the US Embassy in Saigon to evacuate US forces in 1972-73. He rode the last C-130 out of DaNang in 1973.

WP retired from Federal service in 1984. He currently lives in New Braunfels, Texas.