Happy 103rd birthday to LW Hero

Alfred G. Arrieta, who has lived in Mutual 12 for three decades, will celebrate his 103rd birthday on May 23. He has been featured in the LW Weekly and the Los Angeles Times for heroic World War II service. He completed 32 missions over enemyoccupied Europe as a waist gunner in a B-17 bomber with the 8th Air Force. In mission No. 29, during one of the bloodiest battles in the war, he survived a Christmas Eve crash and rendered aid to his seriously wounded crewmates. By war’s end, he was awarded an Air Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters.

After the war, Arrieta married his wife, Frances. The couple raised 10 children and have been married for 72 years. He continues to live a life of purpose in Leisure World and until recently could be seen tooling around in his golf cart.

Chandler Start—who is the oral historian for the Gary Sinise Foundation—interviewed Arrieta in December to archive his personal war experience at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. As Arrieta recalled, the Battle of the Bulge was raging in the densely forested Ardennes region between Belgium and Luxembourg the night his bomber was shot down. None of the crew had parachutes to bail out as they, and the guns, had been jettisoned to make the plane lighter. The plane crash landed, and crewmen were picked up by the Free French fighters and taken to Lille, France. “We were so lucky to be alive,” said Arrieta. To hear his full account, visit https://tinyurl.com/33s7htd4.

Happy birthday to the man who served his country with distinction and made Leisure World a happy home for 30 years.

Alfred G. Arrieta receiving a service award in 2023.

People can watch Arrieta's interview by scanning the QR Code.