Melvin Junior JOHNSON 

Source : Fold3 (jfschlat515) 

Spouse : Ruple "Billie" McCarthy

Parents : Carl Joshua & Signe Elvira Nordberg JOHNSON

Siblings : Helen Gladys, Uteva Wyoma & Lester Nordberg 

Source : Andy

B-24 Liberator - type J-105-CO - s/n 42-109836

Macr : 3590

Mission : Aérodrome Mont-de-Marsan (40)

Takeoff station 115 Shipdham, Norfolk
Shot by the flak around 3:00 pm 

Hit the wing, engine #4 on fire.

Map of Rhône American Cemetery

Source : Fold3 (jfschlat515)

Source : Fold3

Source : Fold3 (jfschlat515)

WW2 Fallen -- First Lieutenant Melvin J. Johnson
First Lieutenant Melvin Junior Johnson, 23, was killed in action over the Bay of Biscay, France on March 27, 1944 when the B-24 bomber he was co-piloting was shot down and crashed into the ocean.

Born July 31, 1920, in Anaconda, Montana, he was the son of Carl Joshua Johnson and Signe Elvira Nordberg Johnson, both of whom were born in Sweden. He graduated from South High School in Salt Lake City and attend L.D.S. Business College. He served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Hawaiian Islands from January 1940 to December 1941.

Enlisting in the Army Air Corps in July 1942, he trained at Lone Pine, Santa Ana, Oxnard, Gardner Field and Blythe, all in California. He married Ruple McCarthy of Salt Lake City in Los Angeles in November 1942. He was commissioned at Douglas Army Air Field, Arizona.

Source : Fold3 (jfschlat515)

At the time of his death, Lt. Johnson had flown 13 missions over enemy territory. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Air Medal with one Oak Leaf Custer. Surviving besides his parents and wife were two sisters, Mrs. Helen Hazelgren, Culver City, Calif., and Mrs. Uteva Groendyke, Salt Lake City, and two brothers, Lt. Lester N. Johnson, Alamogordo, New Mexico, and Monte Johnson, Salt Lake City. Lester was also a pilot during the war. He remained in the military and retired from the Utah National Guard as a Colonel with 28 years of service.

 Lt. Johnson’s father died in 1962 and his mother in 1965. His widow did not remarry. She resumed her maiden name and died at age 45 in a traffic accident in Oceanside, California on August 25, 1962.

 Lt. Johnson was co-pilot that day on a B-24 piloted by Lt. Richard E. Harleman of Lehigh, Pennsylvania. They were members of the 66th Bomb Squadron, 44th Bomb Group flying out of England. Their target was a German airfield in the south of France, almost to Spain. Just after dropping their bombs the plane was hit by flak, knocking out an engine. The gunner, Staff Sergeant Joseph G Benoit of Louisiana, who survived, described what happened :

Seconds after we dropped the bombs, the plane was hit by flak.

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Arlington County, VIRGINIA

Source : Hope

 The right wing had a big hole just aft of the #4 engine that caused this engine to backfire and the prop began windmilling. It hit the fuel cells, too, and we were losing gas. “We could not keep up with the formation, therefore, we decided to go to Spain. The pilot decided that we should hit the deck and take our chances with ground artillery rather than be shot down by enemy aircraft at higher altitude. “As we approached the French coast, we were fired on by machine guns and small arms along the beach. The plane caught fire in the bomb bay area and that halted all hopes of making it to Spain. We ditched about one mile from shore.

 The aircraft broke up upon hitting the water. Four men escaped, were picked up by a French fisherman and then captured by the Germans. Six were trapped in the plane and died.  

Source : Fold3 (jfschlat515)

Source : Fold3 (jfschlat515)

The people of the French town of Capbreton, near the crash site, erected a monument in the town square honoring the men who died in the crash.

Lt. Johnson’s name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Rhone American Cemetery in Draguignan, France, and he is also honored with a cenotaph memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. His name is also inscribed on an “In Memory Of” marker at the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park in Salt Lake City, alongside the graves of his parents.