Journal of a Veteran

Private Harry Johnston
    Private Harry Johnston was my grandfather; my father’s father.  At age 15, he ran away from his orphanage in Iowa to join the Army.  He changed our family name from Johnson to Johnston so they could not track him , lied about his age, and entered the Army prior WWI.  At the [...]

Arthur Caldwell Cason Jr.
1918-2005
Captain Arthur Caldwell Cason, Jr. died at his home in Bradenton, FL in 2005 after a long, valiant battle with cancer. He was 87. Casey, as he was known to his friends, was born March 20, 1918 and raised in Norfolk, Virginia.   He signed up to become a naval aviator and was [...]

Jack Bradley
Jack Bradley was my wife’s great uncle.  He flew a P-51B “Mustang” with the 354th Fighter Group of the 9th Air Force.  They were called the Pioneer Mustang Group because they were the first to receive the P-51.  His squadron was the 353rd Fighter Squadron.  The Group flew its first combat mission in ETO [...]

Otto Hiegel was one of the first people I met in Lambsborn, Germany.  He does not speak very much English, but I can speak pretty good conversational German.  Over the course of time, we have become friends and he has shared his stories of WWII with me.   Otto was born in 1925.  Lambsborn is located on [...]

Larry was my uncle, my father’s half brother.  In WWII, he flew in the European Theater in a B-17F with the 384th Bomber Group (Heavy), 546th Bomber Squadron.  He was a bombardier and the name of his bomber was “Jolly Roger.”  I met him several times, but he passed away a few years ago.  His [...]

This is the World War II blog.

Janet Johnston is my aunt, wife of my father’s brother, 2LT Larry Johnston.  While here husband was away as a bombardier in a B-17, Janet worked at the Ford Motor Company Michigan B-24 plant at Willow Run.  Any soldier who has ever gone to war knows that the women left behind are the ones who [...]