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Union Cemetery

Born:  February 13, 1921 at Bivale, NJ

Entered Service in the US Army from East Weymouth, MA

Earned The Medal of Honor During World War II For heroism June 03, 1944 at Valmontone, Italy

Private Johnson elected to sacrifice his life in order that his comrades might extricate themselves from an ambush. Braving the massed fire of about 60 riflemen, three machineguns, and three tanks from positions only 25 yards distant, he stood erect and signaled his patrol leader to withdraw. The whole area was brightly illuminated by enemy flares. Then, despite 20mm machineguns, machine pistol, and rifle fire directed at him, Private Johnson advanced beyond the enemy in a slow deliberate walk. Firing his automatic rifle from the hip, he succeeded in distracting the enemy and enabled his 12 comrades to escape. Advancing to within five yards of a machinegun, emptying his weapon, Private Johnson killed its crew. Standing in full view of the enemy he reloaded and turned on the riflemen to the left, firing directly into their positions. He either killed or wounded four of them. A burst of machinegun fire tore into Private Johnson and he dropped to his knees. Fighting to the very last, he steadied himself on his knees and sent a final burst of fire crashing into another German. With that he slumped forward dead.