Chief Johnny F. Christenot, USN (ret.), 93, died peacefully at home surrounded by his wife and son on Saturday, December 30, 2023.

John was born during the depression in Grimes, OK after which his family moved to Roswell, NM. His family being sharecroppers, he quit school at 10 to help his family work the farm where he picked cotton bare handed, hunted, and fished for food, raised rabbits, as well as carrying out all of the other farm responsibilities. He was also deathly afraid of his mother's pet Tom Turkey which constantly chased him around the farmyard! He considered Thanksgiving as payback! During his teen years he was a short order cook, set pins in a bowling alley, picked apples, and was a lumberjack. He joined the US Navy in 1948 because, as he said, "I was tired of being poor!"

He had never seen the ocean before he joined his first ship USS Collett in San Diego as a fireman on destroyers. USS Collett was a highly decorated ship in WWII and was picked by Adam Nimitz to be the first ship in Tokyo Bay before the Japanese surrender in Sept 1945.

In 1950, while coming home from Japan after a 6th month deployment the Collett had to turn around to participate in Operation Chromite, Gen MacArthers plan to invade South Korea to cut off North Korean forces. USS Collett and 4 other destroyers approached Inchon up the mined Flying Fish Channel and its huge tide changes on D-2 and D-1. The mission was to anchor offshore and let the North Korean shore batteries expose themselves by firing at the Destroyer Squadron, (DESRON), while they marked targets for the big Cruisers offshore. USS Collett took about 9 shore battery hits during this action. The DESRON was then called the "Sitting Duck Squadron". For this action the DESRON received the Navy Unit Commendation, (NUC); the 2nd highest award that can be given to a Navy unit beside the Presidential Unit Citation, (PUC).

He also served on USS Wadleigh out of Newport RI, and in 1965 aided in the construction of USS Davidson DE 1045 at the Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, was a plank owner, Chief Petty Officer, and served with this ship in Vietnam on their first WESPAC Cruise in 1967. USS Davidson at the time was considered the pride of the 7th Fleet and was stationed in Pearl Harbor.

After retirement Johnny worked Civil Service at the NAS Pensacola power plant keeping the lights on.

John is preceded in death by his parents, as well as a son, Gary Christenot of Ft. Walton, FL.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Janice Christenot; two sons, Kenneth Christenot of Boston, MA and Forrest Christenot of Pensacola, FL.

A private family graveside service will be held at Barrancas National Cemetery.