William H. Arnold

William Arnold, 90, of Edmonton, thrives on adversity. Born in Vancouver, he moved to Alberta with his father after his mother died when he was nine years old.

 

He weathered the Great Depression working for a bakery, rising to accountant. As a bomber pilot in the Second World War, he led one of very few crews who survived three years flying in the hot India-Burma-Ceylon combat theatre.

 

He transferred his knack for survival into the petroleum industry as soon as the war ended, starting at a prototype oilsands project built near Fort McMurray by the Alberta government.

 

The 1947 Leduc gusher lured him into the fiercely competitive arena of oilfield contracting, for a half-century career as a founder and executive of Tri-City Drilling and Armstrong Drilling.