VETERAN OF THE DAY
September 8, 2026
Lieutenant Commander Arthur James “Jack” Elliot II
United States Navy
Commanding Officer • River Squadron 57
River Patrol Force • Vietnam
April 9, 1933 – December 29, 1968
Thomaston • Knox County • Maine
Killed in Action • Vietnam
Panel 35W • Line 3
“The Sea Raised Him. The Navy Shaped Him. Courage Defined Him.”
A Maine Family and the Sea
Arthur James Elliot II was born on April 9, 1933, in Rockland, Maine, and grew up in nearby Thomaston.
Everyone called him Jack.
The sea was already part of the Elliot family story.
His father and grandfather were involved in the family’s Thomaston shipyard, Dunn & Elliot, building, storing and servicing wooden fishing and pleasure boats. His grandfather had also been a sea captain.
As a boy, Jack worked around the shipyard. His father and grandfather taught him to sail and fish.
During summers, he worked as a boys’ camp counselor and taught youngsters to sail.
Long before the Navy gave Arthur Elliot command of sailors…
Maine had already taught him the sea. (usselliot.org)
Athlete, Student, Teacher
Jack graduated from Thomaston High School in 1950, where he had played basketball and baseball.
After working for a year, he entered Gorham State Teachers College, majoring in industrial arts. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1955.
He was a strong student, participated in intramural athletics and served as president of his fraternity.
Then Jack became a teacher.
He taught industrial arts at a high school in Augusta, Maine.
It might have become his life’s work.
But another ambition kept calling.
He Wanted to Become a Naval Officer
There was a problem.
His eyesight.
Jack repeatedly attempted to enter Navy Officer Candidate School before finally obtaining the waiver he needed.
In June 1956, he entered OCS at Newport, Rhode Island.
On October 12, 1956, the former Maine schoolteacher became:
Ensign Arthur James Elliot II
United States Naval Reserve
He had fought simply for the opportunity to serve.
Now he intended to make that opportunity count. (usselliot.org)
A Surface Warfare Officer
Jack’s first sea assignment took him aboard the destroyer USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729).
He served in engineering and qualified as Officer of the Deck, while also performing duties involving antisubmarine warfare, gunnery, damage control and electrical systems.
He was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade.
In 1959, Elliot briefly left active duty and returned to teaching while remaining in the Naval Reserve.
It didn’t last.
Less than a year later, he volunteered to return to active duty.
The sea had called him back. (usselliot.org)
Around the World
His Navy career continued aboard USS Little Rock, followed by an assignment as aide and flag lieutenant to senior Pacific Fleet commanders at Pearl Harbor.
Then came USS John King (DDG-3).
By this point, the former schoolteacher had risen to Lieutenant Commander and served as the guided-missile destroyer’s Operations Officer.
He had built a successful Navy career.
Then, in December 1967, Jack Elliot made another voluntary decision.
He Asked to Go to Vietnam.
The Brown-Water Navy
Vietnam would give this sailor from Maine a very different kind of Navy.
Not destroyers crossing open oceans.
Not Mediterranean deployments.
Not ceremonial flag duties.
Rivers.
Narrow waterways surrounded by vegetation from which an enemy could strike with little warning.
In January 1968, Elliot became commanding officer of PBR Squadron 57, operating in the Mekong region. His river patrol boats became part of America’s increasingly aggressive effort to disrupt enemy movement and supply routes through the waterways of South Vietnam. (usselliot.org)
The Maine sailor had entered the Brown-Water Navy.
And Jack Elliot proved to be an exceptional combat commander.
Courage Under Fire
Under Elliot’s leadership, River Squadron 57 developed an outstanding combat record.
His service in Vietnam would earn him significant decorations, including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V,” and Purple Heart, along with Vietnamese and campaign awards. (usselliot.org)
But the Bronze Star with Combat “V” tells us something particularly important.
It represents valor.
And on December 29, 1968, America would discover exactly what that word meant to Arthur Elliot.
December 29, 1968
Jack Elliot was leading his river forces on an interdiction mission in the Mekong Delta region.
The boats encountered enemy forces.
The mission became a firefight.
Elliot coordinated suppressive fire while his boats attempted to break contact and clear the danger area.
Then the commander did what leaders sometimes must do.
He exposed himself to the danger.
Elliot personally directed his patrol boat so that it could provide covering fire for the other American boats.
Enemy rocket fire struck.
Lieutenant Commander Arthur James Elliot II was mortally wounded. (Naval Cover Museum)
He was 35 years old.
A Commander to the End
There is something important about Jack Elliot’s final action.
He wasn’t trying simply to save himself.
He was directing fire so other boats could get away.
Commander last.
Sailors first.
The language of his Bronze Star citation recognizes his leadership, professional skill and courage under fire. (Working Waterfront Archives)
For a man who had once taught young boys how to sail along the Maine coast, his final moments came doing something strangely connected to those early years:
guiding others through dangerous water.
Only this time, the danger was enemy fire.
And the sailors following him were Americans at war.
Panel 35W • Line 3
Today his name rests among his fellow fallen on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial:
ARTHUR J ELLIOT II
PANEL 35W • LINE 3
The Wall confirms the name.
But it cannot contain the life.
It cannot show us the boy in his family’s shipyard.
The basketball player.
The college student.
The industrial arts teacher.
The young man who refused to let poor eyesight end his dream of becoming a Naval officer.
The destroyer sailor.
The lieutenant commander.
The riverine commander.
Or the man who exposed himself to enemy fire so his sailors could escape.
That is why we tell the rest. (The Virtual Wall)
And Then the Navy Did Something Extraordinary
Arthur Elliot died in 1968.
But the Navy wasn’t finished with his name.
On October 15, 1973, the keel was laid for a new Spruance-class destroyer.
The ship was christened:
USS ELLIOT
DD-967
Jack’s mother, Helen M. Elliot, served as sponsor.
USS Elliot was commissioned on January 22, 1977 and would remain in Navy service until 2003. She became the first Spruance-class destroyer named for a Vietnam War hero. (e-yearbook.com)
Think about the poetry of that.
A little boy from a Maine shipbuilding family grows up around boats.
He becomes a sailor.
He becomes a Naval officer.
He becomes a combat commander.
He dies protecting his sailors.
And years later…
THE UNITED STATES NAVY PUT HIS NAME ON A DESTROYER.
Arthur Elliot went back to sea.
Courage • Honor • Integrity
The coat of arms of USS Elliot deliberately preserved Jack’s story.
Its colors reflected the insignia of River Squadron 57.
Its mainmast and sail represented the Elliot family’s maritime heritage.
The pine tree represented Maine.
And the ship carried a motto chosen to describe the man whose name appeared on her stern:
COURAGE
HONOR
INTEGRITY
Those three words may be the best summary of Arthur James Elliot II we could ever write.
Homecoming to Maine
USS Elliot eventually sailed to Maine.
In August 1977, the destroyer visited Rockland, near the place where her namesake had been born and raised.
Thousands visited the ship, and hundreds joined a cruise aboard her. (Working Waterfront Archives)
Jack Elliot himself never came home from Vietnam.
But nine years after his death…
a United States warship bearing his name sailed into the waters of Maine.
That is a homecoming worth remembering.
Reflection
Maine taught him the sea.
The Navy taught him command.
Vietnam tested his courage.
And when his sailors needed covering fire, their commander placed himself between them and the enemy.
He died on a river thousands of miles from Thomaston.
Then America put his name on a ship and sent him back to sea.
OUR VETERAN OF THE DAY
On September 8, 2026, The Micky Spano Radio Show proudly honors a son of Maine:
Lieutenant Commander Arthur James “Jack” Elliot II
United States Navy
Commanding Officer • River Squadron 57
Vietnam Veteran
Born: April 9, 1933
Home: Thomaston, Knox County, Maine
Killed in Action: December 29, 1968
Age: 35
Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Panel 35W • Line 3
He was a shipyard boy.
A teacher.
A sailor.
An officer.
A volunteer for Vietnam.
A riverine commander.
A decorated combat veteran.
And a leader who remained with his men when the shooting began.
Today we don’t merely read the name:
ARTHUR J ELLIOT II.
We remember Jack.
And somewhere beyond the horizon, perhaps the most fitting salute remains the one the Navy gave him:
USS ELLIOT
A warship carrying a Maine sailor’s name across the oceans he loved.
COURAGE • HONOR • INTEGRITY
Fair winds and following seas, Lieutenant Commander.
Your watch is complete.
Your name still sails.