Published: May 02, 2009 10:25 pm      

Little Rock native and WW II vet recalls service

At first Joe Johnson was unsure if he wanted to talk about his service during WW II as a member of a heavy mortar battalion attached to the 1st Infantry Division (The Big Red One).

He was having mixed feelings, just as do many who fought and saw so much death and destruction. The smells, sounds and sights of combat for the infantry soldier are such that late at night, without warning, all those sensations can begin to flood back like a tidal wave. The underlying guilt of surviving in war while brothers in arms, close friends, did not come back home to loved ones can be overwhelming. And then there is the feeling that if a surviving vet does open up to relate the true horrors of war, others might think he is glorifying his service. All these factors played into Johnson's decision to speak out. In the end he decided it is best to convey his experience in hopes Americans today can better appreciate what they enjoy — freedom.

"It is very difficult to dredge these memories up that you've tried so hard to suppress," said Johson, 88, who is a native of Newton County and the Little Rock area. "But with Memorial Day coming up in the next couple of weeks I feel it is important to relate to people, especially the younger generation, that freedom comes at a cost. We are still making payments on that bill with current wars."

The Johnson family of Newton County, just like McMahan family his wife was a member of, were an established group of Newton County. Johnson and his three brothers, Alvis C. Johnson, Edsel F. Johnson, and Henry E. Johnson, all entered service during the war. It was a great burden on his parents, Walter D. Johnson and Susan Pennington Chaney Johnson. One of Johnson's brothers, Henry, would not return. He was killed in action near Nancy, France in November 1944 from shrapnel wounds to the face. Yet another son of Newton County who gave it all.

"I got the news during Christmas of that year," said Johnson. "He was the youngest of all of us. We didn't complain. We were just very sad we had lost him."

That is one reason why Johnson marks Memorial Day on his calendar each year.

"We should never forget those who gave their lives for our freedom," he said quietly. "Never."

Considering the campaigns Johnson was involved in as a member of the 81st Chemical Mortar Battalion, he is very fortunate to have made it through the war virtually unscathed. His unit was in combat 313 days beginning with the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. For thousands who landed on bloody Omaha Beach that morning in Normandy, the war ended almost as quickly as it had begun. Many of the Americans fired a shot before being killed or wounded.

"It appeared to us, as we hunkered down on the beach, that we were losing the battle," said Johnson. "All the firing was coming from the Germans. But slowly our troops gained the upper hand and the high ground. It was a terrible day with many more to follow."

Through the bocage countryside of hedgerows the powerful 4.2 inch (107 mm) mortars of Johnson's unit assisted the GIs of the Big Red One in rooting out German strong points. In many cases it was the firepower from that mobile artillery that turned the tide of battle as the slugging match among the thick vegetation and sunken lanes of the Norman countryside dragged on into July.

"It seemed we'd never get out of the hedgerows. It was long, slow and bloody. But finally in early August we were able to breakout behind Gen. George S. Patton's Third Army during Operation Cobra," Johnson recalled.

American forces began a march across France and Belgium in the following months that included the beating back of the last German offensive in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. By the time May rolled around in Europe, Johnson was sitting in a slit trench on the Enns River, which was the boundary between American and Russian forces who had been moving from the east since their victory at Stalingrad.

"That's where we were when the war ended on May 5," Johnson said. "We all celebrated in our own special way. Me, I was just glad the killing was over. I'd seen enough."

At the age of 21, Johnson had gone to war. He would forever be a changed man because of it. Back in the United States upon his discharge from the army, Johnson would move his family to Meridian where he would work for various trucking companies in a wide assortment of positions. His quaint home at the corner of 13th Street and 45th Avenue is unassuming just like many others in his neighborhood. He has chosen to live his life as quietly as possible having seen the worst man can do to each other.

Upon the urging of his brother, Alvis, Johnson decided to chronicle his family in a book entitled "The Johnson Connection."

"We felt the book would be a way for our family to celebrate our heritage," Johnson said. "The motive isn't to brag or anything like that. I felt in writing the book we could keep up the history of the families so later generations would come to respect and be proud of those before them."

The book is for sale. It can be an invaluable tool to local historians who want to track Newton County and Lauderdale County families. For more information about the book you can contact Joe Johnson at 601-482-2215.

There is probably one more chapter Johnson would like to add to the book and it would involve going back in time.

"I'd like to go to Normandy and visit the places I served in during the war," he said. "I think it would do me a great deal of good to see those cities and towns where we won the freedom of an oppressed people during the war. I believe it would give me the closure I've been searching for since the war."