Joao Charles Santos or "Uncle John" as the family knows him, served in the Navy for 28 years including service prior
to, including and after World War II. He retired as a CWO4 or Chief Warrant Officer Four, the highest warrant rank you could earn in the U.S. Navy, and worked in Aviation. He enlisted in May 1936 and served in various aviation squadrons during the
war. John was born in New Bedford Massachusetts on May, 1917 The youngest son of
Eliza Teixeira (Pron.
Tershayda)
Arruda. The Arruda family had a rough life growing up. In 1914 the Patron of the
family Manuel Arruda returned to Portugal for health reasons. Eliza did not wish
to return to Portugal. She was determined to remain in America and raised the
family of five children on her own, so they separated. A few years later after a
brief relationship with a man named John Santos, John was born in 1917. The
mother did the best she could raising her family but there was very little money
and John's father did not support the Arruda family. This made their life very
difficult, some of the children were sent to an orphanage. In 1936 when John was
19 years old, saw the Navy as an opportunity to escape from his economic despair
and joined up. After basic training he travelled to the west coast and went to
school there. He enjoyed the Navy and made a career out of it lasting for 28
years.
Pre
WWII-Training and First Assignments
World
War II: NAS Pensacola, FAW-4, and CASU-7
Post
WWII- China Service: Tsingtao Air Field
1950-1964:
Aircraft Squadrons, and USS Constellation 
They
Served with Honor : Home Page
References,
Sources, and Links
