WW2 Remagen Fallen - Coy Johnson, 99th Infantry Division

Staff Sergeant David Coy Johnson served in the 99th Infantry when it crossed the Rhine at Remagen.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101266597/david-c-johnson
https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2018/10/15/99th-infantry-division-crossing-the-rhine-iii/ 

David Coy Johnson never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WW2 fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War 2 fallen in one free-to-access central database.  Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

Coy was born on April 13, 1920 in North Carolina. His parents John and Milla were also both born in North Carolina. His father worked as a farmer. Coy had three older sisters, two older brothers, two younger brothers, and one younger sister. All five Johnson brothers served in World War II. By 1940 Coy had completed five years of schooling. He was living with his brother and was working as a farm laborer. Later he got a job working for Hudson Hosiery Mills. At some point he married Collie Gladden.

He was drafted into the army in December 1942. He became a staff sergeant in Company F, 2nd Battalion, 395th Infantry Regiment, 99th Infantry Division. The 99th ID arrived in France in early November 1944. A week later it took over a defensive position north of the Roer River. It took part in the Battle of the Bulge during December and January in the north sector of the German attack.

The 99th ID was the first American division to completely cross the Rhine at Remagen on March 11, 1945. Sgt. Johnson's regiment was kept in reserve until March 14. It was sent up into the mountains east of Linz to dislodge the Germans. It came under fire from machine guns, mortars, and even tanks. The 395th IR achieved its assigned objectives for this two day assault that ended on March 15, 1945, but it cost them 34 men killed, including Coy Johnson.

His grave is at Wilson Grove Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Thank you Sgt. Johnson for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Coy.

Last year on this date I profiled Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star hero David Johnson, 45th Infantry Division. You can read about John 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.

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