Arthur DeSellier joined the USNR as a naval aviation cadet after graduating high school. He was called to active duty and received the appointment of ensign in April of 1944. As a high school graduate, he was one of the youngest non-commissioned officers to fight in WW2.
Arthur trained a as fighter pilot in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Olathe, Kansas, Pensacola and Melbourne, Florida, Glenville, Illinois, Oxnard, California, and Oahu, Hawaii.
Arthur was assigned as a hellcat pilot aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Cowpens. He took part in strikes against the Japanese during their occupation of the Philippines and Formosa Islands, as well as flying with the squadron during the January China Sea operation against Japanese forces in China and French-Indo China, as well as the Nansei Shoto group.
Arthur was appointed to the rank on LTJG on Nov. 1, 1945. He was a member of the USNR Veteran's Flying Squadron 22 and was one of eight pilots who intercepted an eighteen plane Japanese squadron near Formosa. Fourteen of eighteen Japanese planes were shot down. LTJG DeSellier was awarded the following medals: The American Theater, the Asiatic Pacific Theater with one star, The Philippines' Liberation with one star, and The Air Medal.
During the rest of his life, Arthur never lost his passion for flight. From model airplanes and rockets, to building his own hang glider, his feet stayed on the ground but his eyes were always looking up.