Radford, Arthur William, born 17-02-1896 in Chicago, Illinois 
to John Arthur Radford, a Canadian-born electrical engineer, and Agnes Eliza Radford (born Knight). The eldest of four children, he was described as bright and energetic in his youth. When Arthur was six years old the family moved to Riverside, Illinois, where his father took a job as a managing engineer with Commonwealth Edison Company. John Radford managed the first steam turbine engines in the United States, at the Fisk Street Generating Station
Arthur began his school years at Riverside Public School, where he expressed an interest in the United States Navy from a young age. He gained an interest in aviation during a visit to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. By fourth grade, he frequently drew detailed cross-section diagrams of the USS Maine. 
He was shy, but performed very well in school. In mid-1910, Radford moved with his family to Grinnell, Iowa, and attended Grinnell High School for a year and a half, before deciding to apply to the United States Naval Academy. He obtained the local congressman’s recommendation for an appointment to the academy, and was accepted. After several months of tutoring at Annapolis, Maryland, he entered the academy in July 1912, at the age of sixteen.
Although Radford’s first year at the academy was mediocre he applied himself to his studies in his remaining years there. He participated in summer cruises to Europe in 1913 and 1914 and passed through the Panama Canal to San Francisco in 1916. Radford, known as “Raddie” to his fellow students, graduated 59th of 177 in the class of 1916, and was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy during the First World War He graduating from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1916, and served on board the battleship USS South Carolina. 
In his career as a U.S. Navy officer, Radford served during World War I as a surface ship warfare officer. After the end of the war, Radford entered naval aviation, and he completed training as a pilot in 1921. After service aboard aircraft carriers, and periods of service ashore, Radford was appointed as the Chief of Aviation Training in 1941, months the entrance of the United States into World War II on December 7, 1941. During World War II, Admiral Radford commanded Carrier Division Eleven 
in the Pacific during 1943 and Carrier Division Six in 1944. Radford (right) with Captain Joseph J. Clark aboard USS Yorktown, 
October 1943 However, more importantly, Radford commanded aircraft carrier Task Groups during 1943 – 45 that were parts of the Fast Carrier Task Force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, either as part of Task Force 38 or part of Task Force 58. In 1948, Radford was appointed by President Harry Ship Trumann as the Vice Chief of Naval Operations. 
Then, in 1949, Truman appointed Radford as the High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Radford (left) and Douglas MacArthur 
confer on Wake Island in 1950. Radford was an admirer of MacArthur and a supporter of his strategies, both before and after the latter’s dismissal. Admiral Radford died at the age of 77 on 17-08-1973 of heart failure, at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland
Death and burial ground of Radford, Arthur William.
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Radford was buried with his wife Miriam J, who died at the very old age of 102, in 1997, and with the full honors accorded to a former four-star Admiral, and a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Section 30 of the Arlington National Cemetery.
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