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Sandbagged foxhole on beach a memory
of landing at Iwo
In 1941 at age 18, my brother, James Albert Johnson, enlisted
in the United States Marines. During the
latter part of his time served, he was stationed on Guam, from June 1944 to November 1945.
The early part of 1945, he landed on Iwo Jima, where he saw
enough fighting and action during WWII to last him a lifetime. He never did really talk much about what took place
while he was there.
I called him recently, to ask if he could tell me something
that I could put in the Journal about him.
He only told me one funny happening. He said right after they landed on Iwo Jima, he
immediately started digging his foxhole. He
said there was sand everywhere, which I assume was actually volcanic ash. After digging his foxhole, he stacked sandbags all
around it, to keep the sand out.
His First Sergeant laughed when he saw it, and told him he
was the first man on Iwo Jima to build a foxhole from sandbags. I'm positive there was more than humorous things
happened there. I've always been told, not by
him, that the Marines did the majority of the fighting during the war, this could be a
wrong statement though.
I was a very young girl when Albert left home and joined the
service. He was the oldest child and the only
living son. He left at home, his Dad and Mom,
Tom and Grace Johnson, of Elvins and nine sisters. One
brother had died at an early age, and another brother born later, died in infancy.
I can remember my mom praying constantly while he was gone,
that God would bring him and all the servicemen back home safely. Many didn't make it back, but my brother did.
We would get many letters from him that were censored at that
time. They would have a lot cut out of them,
which he wasn't allowed to write about, and we would have to piece together what he was
trying to tell us. While he was gone, we lived
on rationing stamps.
I can remember walking to the store, and presenting the
stamps to purchase several items that was rationed. You
could not get over your limit of stamps, but because we had such a large family, we got
quite a lot. We managed and we made it, like a
lot of other people who didn't have much as I recall.
I well remember standing in our driveway and hearing the
sound of planes. I looked up to see the planes
flying in V formation. This meant we had won
the war with Japan, and V-J Day was August, 1945. A
glorious day.
My brother has since gotten married to Twyla Burch of Joplin,
Mo in 1950. They now live in Marysville,
California. They have five children, Zella
Gayle, Tom, Mary, Brenda, and Vella. Our Dad
and Mom are now deceased. Dad died in 1961 and
Mom in 1981.
Mom had saved a letter I had gotten from my brother in 1945. I knew nothing about her saving it, until one of my
sisters gave it to me just recently. The
Marine paper he wrote it on, is as good as it was fifty years ago and it is not brittle. Also the writing is as legible, it is a keepsake of
mine.
Albert's nine sisters, all having graduated from Elvins High
School, are all living. Violet (Mrs. Leon Porter) Knob Lick, Opal (Mrs. Marvin House)
Farmington, Irene (Mrs. David Hart) Delta, Christine (Mrs. Arthur Poland) St. Louis, Alma
(Mrs. Donald Woodcock) Ironton, Annabelle (Mrs. Bob Underwood) Park Hills, Z. Kathy
Johnson, St. Louis, Nancy (Mrs. Bob Twidwell) Farmington, Barbara (Mrs. Bill Ross) Park
Hills. We are all also thankful that God
brought our brother home safely. God is so
good.
