Mountain View resident Juan C. Aranda Jr. still doesn't think of himself as a hero, 57 years after he helped pluck a father and his three sons from a storm-swollen waterway in Puerto Rico.
"I consider police officers heroes. They put their lives on the line all the time. I consider firefighters heroes. They do the same thing," Aranda, 78, said in an interview at his Farley Street home Thursday. "Me? I was at the right place at the right time on one occasion. It was luck. It was instinct."
Next month, though, the airman first class will receive the Air Force Commendation Medal for his heroism on Aug. 12, 1956, when Hurricane Santa Clara swept across the U.S. territory.
By his own admission, Aranda should've
Juan C. Aranda Jr., 78, poses with a photo taken when he was in the United States Air Force at his home in Mountain View on Thursday, June 27, 2013. Aranda will receive the Air Force Commendation Medal on July 15 for helping save a man and his three sons during Hurricane Santa Clara in Puerto Rico in 1956. (Kirstina Sangsahachart/ Daily News) (Kirstina Sangsahachart)
been hunkered down at Ramey Air Force Base instead of risking his life to save others. He was working air-to-ground communications when the tempest made landfall. Concerned by reports of widespread devastation, he broke curfew to check on his family in the town of Aguadilla, located roughly six miles away.
"I did not care," he said about the fateful decision. "My family's life was at stake and that was beyond any rule."
Torrential rain and 115-mph winds buffeted him all the way to Aguadilla. For the final mile and a half, Aranda had to wade through chest-deep water teeming with insects and reptiles.
Aranda was relieved to find his family safe and sound when he finally arrived, but it wasn't long until townsfolk were at the
door asking for help. A father and his three sons were clinging to a palm tree in the middle of an overflowing brook and in danger of being swept away.
A strong swimmer, Aranda immediately sprang into action.
"I am an islander!" the native Puerto Rican said with a laugh. "You learn to swim when you're one year old -- they throw you in the water!"
Seeing that the current was moving swiftly, Aranda headed upstream and dove into the bone-numbingly cold water with nothing but a rope tied to his waist. He made it to the palm tree on the first try. Bystanders then used the rope to form a human chain to bring the man and his sons to safety.
"Those kids were terrified," recalled Aranda, adding that the palm tree was covered in creepy crawlies trying to escape the water. "Their father didn't know what to say. He was aghast that we were able to do that."
Discipline threatened
The act of heroism nearly got Aranda thrown out of the Air Force, because he had broken curfew. It was a consequence he was willing to accept.
"My answer was, 'OK, I did what I did. I've got to be accountable,' " he said, referring to the threat of a court martial.
Local officials and the Red Cross rallied to his side and leaned on his superiors to go easy on him. It worked. Aranda ended up re-enlisting for another four years, and when he was honorably discharged in 1961, he learned that his actions had been deemed worthy of official recognition.
"The wheels are rolling for an award," his papers stated.
But nothing happened, not even after he wrote to the National Personnel Records Center and local military authorities. In the intervening years, Aranda went about his civilian life and only occasionally wondered why.
Eshoo gets involved
It was with encouragement from now Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, whom Aranda met as a Whisman School District trustee in the 1990s, that he reached out to U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, for help last year.
The congresswoman wrote to the Secretary of the Air Force and asked that the military branch review Aranda's file for consideration of recognition for his heroism during Hurricane Santa Clara. The Air Force responded in writing that he would be awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal.
"Airman 1st Class Aranda acted without hesitation and bravely saved the lives of a father and his threes sons who became stranded during Hurricane Santa Clara in August 1956," Eshoo said in a statement. "With courage and conviction, he put his own life at risk when others were in need. I am immensely proud to announce that Mr. Aranda will be awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal."
As the sun set on a balmy day not unlike those he once enjoyed in Puerto Rico, Aranda said he was still having trouble getting his head around the idea that he was finally going to receive the award promised to him so many years ago.
"I never lost my faith," Aranda said. "But now that it's happened, I don't know what to say."
Fortunately, his 22-year-old stepson, Johncarlo Bernat, did.
"We're all just really happy and excited for him," Bernat said. "It's something that's definitely overdue. It's not like he necessarily needed it, but an award is always something cool to have. This is pretty crazy."
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