WARRIORS REMEMBERED

Families gather in England to pay tribute to a fallen WW II aircrew

- LOUIS DEFRANCESCO

Fledgling bomber pilot Lt. Johnson climbs into a Stearman PT-13A at the U.S. Army Air Corps flight training field in Dothan, Alabama. Johnson would later be awarded the DFC for bravery in combat.

My first impression of war was from my early childhood while going to the cemetery with my mother to visit the grave of my uncle, 1st Lieutenant George C Johnson, a decorated World War II pilot. We would sit by his military headstone, usually with a small brightly colored American flag planted right next to it, and my mother would quietly say, "Your uncle Georgie was a war hero."

On November 25, 1944 1st Lt. George C. Johnson, an experienced Eighth Air Force B-17 combat pilot now flying with the 40th Air Depot, had taken off in his Flying Fortress from Stansted airbase in England on a routine mission, headed toward RAF Langford Lodge in Northern Ireland. His crew consisted of Staff Sgt. Francis O. Hull and Cpl. John E Bean. The passengers aboard were Capt. Priscilla Gotto, Lt. Col. Hartford H. Vereen and Maj. Kenneth T. Omley.

Near Shropshire, the plane flew into a sleet storm, and went 28 degrees off course. Although the aircraft should have been flying to the east of fastapproaching Clee Hill, with almost zero visibility Johnson would not have seen the quarry face until his last moments.