Seattle, Washington, US
Army Air Corps
Rank unknown, 448th Heavy Bombardment Group and the 714th squadron – WW2, England
01/08/2002, Washington State
Johnnie was born on the 26th of June 1921 in Tremonton (Box Elder County) Utah to his father John Johnson (a Swedish immigrant to the United States when he was 15 years of age) and his mother Ivy Alma Wallis (an English immigrant to the United State when she was 14 years old)
Johnnie had nine siblings:
Ivy Johnson Caldwell born 1916 Anna Johnson Sturrock born 1917 Edith Johnson born 1919 Hilda Johnson Riddoch born1923 Bert Wallis Johnson born 1925 Clyde Wallis Johnson born 1927 Beth Johnson born1930 Lois Johnson Nilsen born 1933 Esther Johnson Rasband born 1936
Johnnie moved to Seattle Washington in 1927 and graduated in 1940 from Queen Anne High School in Seattle. He married Bonita (Bonnie) Joy Stout in January 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He had a military deferment due to his employment in the bearing Industry but he enlisted in aviation cadets in the army air corps later in that year.
After his commission in 1943 he went to bombardier school and assigned to 448th Heavy Bombardment Group and the 714th squadron in Norwich England. On his first mission they were separated from the rest of the flight and the navigator got lost. Johnnie was asked to try to get a heading for them back to England. He was able to get them back to their base. The navigator was removed from the crew and Johnnie took over as both bombardier and as lead navigator. His duel classification got him assigned to fill in on several missions to the lead aircraft in the flight. This resulted in him completing his tour several missions ahead of the rest of the crew and he rotated back to the States. On the next mission, his normal duty plane – the “Umbreago” piloted by Robert Mains – was shot down and only the tail gunner survived.
After his discharge from the Air Corps, Johnnie returned to the bearing business and became a sales engineer. Johnnie and Bonnie raised eleven children. He served for several years as a Bishop in the Mormon Church and was involved in coaching both basketball and softball for most of his life. Johnnie passed away from stomach cancer on January 8th 2002 .
He is survived by his wife and all eleven of his children John Wallis Johnson Jr, Lynn Curtis Johnson (both Vietnam veterans) Marilyn Mitchell, Carolyn Johnson, Diane Rosander, Paul Johnson, Celia Johnson, Julie Gandy, David Johnson, Kenneth Johnson and Nolan Johnson.
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