Xopher
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 434
- Location
- Pennsylvania
I am just beside myself with excitement. Ladies and Gentleman I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I have solved this mystery about Walter J. Johnson and his flight suit and with great pleasure I share it with you.
As I had mentioned I was saving for a high quality reproduction B3 but got excited and bought this original Perry B3 and A3 pants instead, desperately hoping to wear it. When I discovered there was a name tag on the jacket, something in my perception of the war shifted, no longer romanticized. It became more real than ever to me, almost eerie to me. I had thought about selling the jacket to continue on my saving for a repro, but now I felt personally responsible for making sure this piece of history gets preserved and I couldn't bare the thought of it being sold, possibly ruined and the history being lost forever. Thus began several weeks of staying awake till 3am wondering and researching Walter.
I managed to track down his birth and deaths dates 1914-1944 and with those dates I was able to find his enlistment records showing when and in which country he enlisted. Carlton County Minnesota on April 17, 1941. I knew this had to be him because of the contract number on the B-3 being from the same year. I now had his Service Number but at this point my research was dead in the water. I couldn't find any further information. So naturally as any disappointed and defeated boy does, I called my mother and told her the dreary end to my endeavor. "Well Sweetie, if you know his name, and where he was from...just call the school there and ask for the year books"......."Mom, you're brilliant!". We are back in business!
I called the school in Esko Minnesota, they said unfortunately they had no records that old but to try the museum in town. So I researched the museum and called them. There were 4 phone numbers, I called the first 3 with no answer. So I called the last number, and eureka, someone picks up the other end. I start giving my rather clunky explanation of who I am, what Im trying to do, how a guy in Pennsylvania got a flight suit from Minnesota. The nice fellow at the other end of the line says " Well whats the name" and I say "Walter J. Johnson" he replies "Oh Walt! I have to say, I think the man you are looking for was related to me".....my jaw drops and I feel like I'm in the last 30 minutes of a drama movie solving an ancient mystery. This is what I learned.
Walter J. Johnson was one of, I believe, four brothers. Being a strong Finnish farm boy he earned the nickname "Beef" and he was a member of one of the first Future Farmers of America organizations based out of Esko Minnesota. He was a basketball player and was on the FFA basketball team, which was astoundingly good. Their claim to fame was, in the 1930s probably '36 or '38, the FFA Basketball team beat the Harlem Globetrotters, the news became widespread "How did a small hole in the wall basketball team beat the Harlem Globetrotters?".
A few years go by and Walter enlists as a Pilot in the AAC. He flew missions in the Pacific, I'm not sure how many but he had completed his mission requirements and was rotated back to the United States. His family and friends were ecstatic that he survived the war. Walt was now serving as a flight instructor in Tonopah Navada. He died tragically in a plane crash training accident in 1944 and was buried in his home town. (Not in a canoe accident as I had previously thought)
And tears start forming in my eyes.
Walter's relative with whom I spoke on the phone will be sending me a photo of Walt. As for Walters flight suit I will be sending it back to him and his family and the plan is that they will be donating it to the Richard I Bong Historical Center in Superior Wisconsin.
I feel absolutely honored to have played a part in preserving this mans memory. I feel as attached to this story as I do the stories of my own family who served during the war. I have the feeling of dodging a bullet when I think about how close this piece of history came to being lost forever, and a huge sigh of relief knowing it will be going back to his family and too a museum who will preserve and value it for many years to come.
Thank you for your service. RIP Walter J. Johnson 1914-1944
As I had mentioned I was saving for a high quality reproduction B3 but got excited and bought this original Perry B3 and A3 pants instead, desperately hoping to wear it. When I discovered there was a name tag on the jacket, something in my perception of the war shifted, no longer romanticized. It became more real than ever to me, almost eerie to me. I had thought about selling the jacket to continue on my saving for a repro, but now I felt personally responsible for making sure this piece of history gets preserved and I couldn't bare the thought of it being sold, possibly ruined and the history being lost forever. Thus began several weeks of staying awake till 3am wondering and researching Walter.
I managed to track down his birth and deaths dates 1914-1944 and with those dates I was able to find his enlistment records showing when and in which country he enlisted. Carlton County Minnesota on April 17, 1941. I knew this had to be him because of the contract number on the B-3 being from the same year. I now had his Service Number but at this point my research was dead in the water. I couldn't find any further information. So naturally as any disappointed and defeated boy does, I called my mother and told her the dreary end to my endeavor. "Well Sweetie, if you know his name, and where he was from...just call the school there and ask for the year books"......."Mom, you're brilliant!". We are back in business!
I called the school in Esko Minnesota, they said unfortunately they had no records that old but to try the museum in town. So I researched the museum and called them. There were 4 phone numbers, I called the first 3 with no answer. So I called the last number, and eureka, someone picks up the other end. I start giving my rather clunky explanation of who I am, what Im trying to do, how a guy in Pennsylvania got a flight suit from Minnesota. The nice fellow at the other end of the line says " Well whats the name" and I say "Walter J. Johnson" he replies "Oh Walt! I have to say, I think the man you are looking for was related to me".....my jaw drops and I feel like I'm in the last 30 minutes of a drama movie solving an ancient mystery. This is what I learned.
Walter J. Johnson was one of, I believe, four brothers. Being a strong Finnish farm boy he earned the nickname "Beef" and he was a member of one of the first Future Farmers of America organizations based out of Esko Minnesota. He was a basketball player and was on the FFA basketball team, which was astoundingly good. Their claim to fame was, in the 1930s probably '36 or '38, the FFA Basketball team beat the Harlem Globetrotters, the news became widespread "How did a small hole in the wall basketball team beat the Harlem Globetrotters?".
A few years go by and Walter enlists as a Pilot in the AAC. He flew missions in the Pacific, I'm not sure how many but he had completed his mission requirements and was rotated back to the United States. His family and friends were ecstatic that he survived the war. Walt was now serving as a flight instructor in Tonopah Navada. He died tragically in a plane crash training accident in 1944 and was buried in his home town. (Not in a canoe accident as I had previously thought)
And tears start forming in my eyes.
Walter's relative with whom I spoke on the phone will be sending me a photo of Walt. As for Walters flight suit I will be sending it back to him and his family and the plan is that they will be donating it to the Richard I Bong Historical Center in Superior Wisconsin.
I feel absolutely honored to have played a part in preserving this mans memory. I feel as attached to this story as I do the stories of my own family who served during the war. I have the feeling of dodging a bullet when I think about how close this piece of history came to being lost forever, and a huge sigh of relief knowing it will be going back to his family and too a museum who will preserve and value it for many years to come.
Thank you for your service. RIP Walter J. Johnson 1914-1944
