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US Navy Air Corps veteran Arthur M. “Art” Whittaker Sr. was selected as Grand Marshal of the annual Stanly County Veterans Day Parade.
The parade was Monday in Oakboro.
Whittaker, 97, who lives in the Endy community, served from 1944 to 1948 during and after World War II. He flew SC2C-5 dive bombers during his time in service, and followed his military service with a very successful career in commercial aviation.
Born in Princeton, West Virginia, his family soon relocated about 200 miles east to Lunenburg County, Virginia and the town of Victoria.
“My father was a railroad worker, and Victoria was a railroad town,” said Whittaker. “Victoria and Lunenburg County were pretty similar to Stanly County in that it was a rural area with some small towns.”
After receiving a draft notice at age 17, Art had a decision to make.
“You’d be surprised how fast a 17-year-old will grow up when he gets that notice,” he said.
At the advice of a friend named “Mac,” Whittaker chose to enlist in the US Navy rather than the Army.
“Mac said, ‘Stick with the Navy…you’ll get three square meals a day and sleep in a nice clean bed at night,’ ” he recalled. “So that’s what I did.”
Having recently graduated high school in Victoria, Whittaker entered a special program called “V-5,” which sought out recent high school graduates who would be trained in aviation skills.
“We were put on a train going south from Virginia to the University of Georgia, where we went through pre-flight training. After that, we were sent to Jacksonville, Florida, where we were introduced to the SC2C Dive Bomber, which we called ‘The Beast.’ Next we were shipped to the Naval Air Training Base in Memphis, Tennessee for six more weeks of training,” he recalled.
Then it was off to Alameda, California for active duty.

“I served on three different aircraft carriers,” Whittaker said. “The first was the USS Leyte, which was one of the last carriers built during the war. After that, I served on the USS Boxer, and later on the USS Antietam.”
In his time in the service, Whittaker traveled much of the Pacific, spending time in Australia, Micronesia (Truk Island), Guam, the Mariana Islands (Saipan), and the Philippines (Manila), interspersed with a couple of aircraft carrier voyages between Hawaii and California.
Upon leaving the Navy in 1948, Whittaker signed on as one of the first employees of Piedmont Airlines, an upstart outfit headquartered at the Winston-Salem airport.
“Piedmont’s office at the time was a tar paper shack,” he said, “and the fleet consisted of three DC-3s which had been previously used to transport cattle. We had to remove a wooden floor from the planes (which was there to separate the animals from the crew) and install passenger seats.”
Whittaker was quick to express his respect for Piedmont’s first president, Tom Davis.
“He always told his employees that we would never be criticized for spending money to take care of our customers,” he said, adding that Davis was “a true country gentleman.”
As Piedmont Airlines grew, Whittaker was eventually transferred to Norfolk, Virginia, where he served as station manager from 1951 to 1966. Then, he was relocated to Roanoke, where he served until retiring at age 62.
Whittaker’s aviation career did not end at retirement, however, as he served on the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission for a number of years, including time as chairman of the group.
He is also a Shriner and a 50-plus year member of the American Legion.
“Best part about that is that after 50 years, you don’t have to pay dues any more,” he joked.
Whittaker looks to the future with optimism.
“I feel good,” he said. “I’m blessed health-wise, and my family has a history of longevity. My father lived to be 95, and I had an uncle who made it to 102.”
Likewise, he is able to look back with satisfaction.
“I’ve seen the world, and I’m proud of what I’ve been able to do over the years,” he said.

Toby Thorpe is a freelance writer for The Stanly News & Press.