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 Jack Lloyd Johnson
July 11, 1924 - January 28, 2006
SALEM - Jack Johnson of Salem, Oregon died at home on January 28, 2006. He is survived by his wife, Raye; son, Kevin and daughter, Lesley of Salem; son, Kim of Carlsbad, Calif;
brother, Robert of Anaheim, Calif.; five grandchildren; and two
great-grandchildren.
Jack was born Jack Lloyd Johnson, the 2nd of four children to Kay and Raymond Johnson on July 11, 1924 in Harrison, Boone County, Arkansas. Later Jack's
family moved to Boulder City, Nevada, where his father worked as a foreman on 'Boulder Dam,' then to Long Beach, Calif., where Jack attended Wilson High School. He had planned to become a doctor when WWII changed the course of his life. He joined the U.S. Army, 82nd Airborne Parachute Division and was deployed overseas. Jack fought at the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded a Purple Heart. While stationed in Nottingham, England, he met Mildred 'Raye Raymond of the Royal British Army and by all accounts was smitten from the start. The war ended and they were married on September 4th, 1945 in Brussels, Belgium. Raye joined Jack in the United States after being released from the Army; not long afterwards Jack joined the Long Beach Police Department. He was on duty when he saw The Spruce Goose make its historic flight over the harbor.
Jack remained in law enforcement in one form or another most of his working career while he and Raye raised three children, though there was that one period, with two and a half children grown, that he and Raye moved to Minnesota to pursue a dream of sheep farming, and later the period when he ran the weather station in Yreka, Calif. Jack was a protective and loving family man, skilled outdoorsman, scout leader, square dancer, and
checker/cribbage player. He harmonized when singing, whittled when camping, and was an avid football fan. He was a member of the VFW and throughout his life remained fiercely proud of the United States and his service with other WWII soldiers.
We are shaped and fashioned by what we love. Goethe.
Arrangements by Virgil T. Golden Funeral Service.
[Statesman Journal. Salem, OR, 01 Feb 2006, Wed, Page 14] |
[courtesy of Lonnie Hoover]
Grave marker for Jack L. Johnson in Section AA,
Site 1603, Willamette National Cemetery, Portland (Multnomah
county), Oregon.
Jack registered for the draft in Long Beach,
California on 15 Decembe3r 1942 and was inducted into the Army at
Los Angeles, CA on 4 February 1943.
The date of Pvt Johnson's arrival in Service
Company is unknown due to the unavailability that company's morning
reports for that period.
He was hospitalized for reasons unknown on 13
September 1944 and therefore missed the Holland jump. He
returned to duty on 22 September.
That hospitalization may have changed his life in
more ways than one as he married Mildred Raye Raymond of the Royal
British Army in Brussels, Belgium on 4 September 1945.
Pvt Johnson was elevated to Pfc on 4 January 1945.
He was discharged on 31 December 1945.
Jack's military decorations include the Combat
Infantryman Badge awarded for action during the campaign, 18
December 1944 to 20 February 1945. |
