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| Machinist Mate Robert Johnson served on the final mission of the USS Swordfish. |
Robert Eugene Johnson never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 4, 1919 in Minnesota. His parents Emil and Rose were also both born in Minnesota. His paternal grandparents were from Sweden. His mother's parents were from Austria and Luxembourg. His father worked as a railroad clerk. Robert was an only child. By 1940 Robert had completed four years of high school and was living with his parents. In September 1940 he married Lorrayne Sharpe, also from Minnesota, in Iowa (a possible elopement?).
At some point Robert enlisted in the US Navy and volunteered to serve on submarines. By December 1944, and perhaps earlier, Robert was serving on the USS Swordfish. He reached the rank of machinist mate 3rd class. USS Swordfish began its war service in Manila on December 8, 1941. It completed 12 successful missions.
On December 22, 1944, Swordfish was sent from Pearl Harbor to Okinawa on a photo-recon mission ahead of the planned invasion. The cause of her demise remains unknown. One report that claims it was sunk by a Japanese destroyer on January 12, 1945 is not backed up by Japanese naval records. It may be more likely that it was sunk by a mine. All hands, including MM3c Johnson, were listed as lost as of January 12, 1945.
His cenotaph grave is at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I don't know what happened to his widow.
Last year on this date I profiled Leland Laye, 82nd Airborne and his brother Harlan. You can read about Leland here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Was Robert arrested at some point in his young life? A mug shot is all that remains? RIP Sailor
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