World War II veteran and Rittenhouse Village of Portage resident Harold C. Johnson turned 100 years young on Saturday, April 30, and on April 29 Rittenhouse hosted a party for Johnson to celebrate him reaching this huge milestone.
Jill West, Johnson’s daughter, is beyond proud of everything her father has accomplished in his life and is just as proud as her dad is of his World War II veteran status. Growing up, West said he was very reluctant to talk about his time overseas, and she knew very little aside from the fact that he was a paratrooper in the army. However, that all changed when West arranged for Johnson to go on his Honor Flight in 2011. From that moment forward he’d tell his story to anyone and everyone, always beaming from ear to ear about how much it means to him that he was able to serve his country.
“He got on the Honor Flight and after that, the floodgates just opened up. He would not stop talking about it,” West said.
West was in awe of her father’s stories from the war, and wanted to learn as much as possible about what her dad went through.
“I was absolutely hooked. I ordered every book I could find. I went to all the World War II sites and looked for things and joined groups and everything. It's just been amazing,” West said.
From there West read more and more, searching and finding pictures of her dad she never even knew existed in books such as “A Bridge Too Far.” She then was able to show her dad, who was greatly touched and even formed lifelong friendships with the authors of some of those books later on.
The Honor Flight also opened up numerous opportunities for Johnson to revisit and talk about his past. Johnson’s rep with the Honor Flight, Len Shrewinski, heard the Gary Sinise and the Soaring Valor Foundation were looking for Chicagoland vets to send on an all-paid expense trip to the World War II Museum in New Orleans. This allowed Johnson, then 97, to fly down and visit the museum. He was excited as all could be going through the exhibits as he toured with a high school student, who was also with the program, sharing his knowledge and experiences with her as well.
The amazing opportunities didn’t stop there, though, as that trip to the museum made way for another that neither he nor West thought would ever be possible.
“Because of that, he got to be on their radar, the World War Two Museum,” West said. “So then he got a letter in the mail. He called me and he goes, ‘Are you sitting down?’ And I said, ‘Well, no, but I can. What's wrong Dad?’ And he said, ‘There's a letter here,’ and he read it to me. I thought ‘that cannot be true.’ They were inviting him to an all-expenses-paid trip to the 75th anniversary of Normandy.”
However, West was wrong, and the letter turned out to be 100% legit - Johnson was invited on a 10-day cruise to Europe for the anniversary courtesy of the museum. West tagged along as his chaperone, and also because she wanted to go herself, and the two set off overseas, landing in Amsterdam. Not long after they arrived, West realized they actually weren’t too far from another place that held much importance to her father during the war.
“I realized Amsterdam was not that far from Nijmegen, Holland, where he did that jump into the Market Garden,” West said. “That's the time he jumped. He was trained to be a paratrooper and jump, but he was bused in or trained into Anzio. He was trucked into the Battle of the Bulge, so that's the only time he got to jump into a battle to do what he was really trained to do. So that is his favorite battle that he talks about that sticks in his mind the most."
Because of that trip, Johnson and West were able to visit that very spot where that jump happened and where he landed, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that sent shivers down both their spines as they realized just how surreal the moment was. They were also able to visit the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and England, and see battle sites such as Dunkirk, Calais, Dover, and the Normandy beaches, easily making this trip one of the top favorites either of them has ever been on.
Now, through experiences like these and many more, Johnson isn’t a bit hesitant to tell others he’s a vet. Uniform with his two Purple Hearts and all, he adores going to Veteran’s Day programs at the local schools and goes to local events honoring veterans as much as he can. West said her dad is like a local rockstar celebrity, touring many different cities with people always excited to come up and talk with him and even ask for his autograph. West mentioned at one point, that he was even asked to sign a World War II jeep.
“I’m glad to be a part of it,” Johnson said whenever he was thanked for his service.
Johnson has also been hugely fond of travel, and has traveled across the globe, from the pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, and everywhere in between. It’s much harder to find a country he hasn’t visited instead of the ones he has stepped foot in. He also worked for years, both before and after the war, at a company called M Latos in Gary, his hometown. Additionally, Johnson found great success in his family life as well, marrying his wife Barabra for 69 years, with whom he had three children.
Johnson remains a trooper in all aspects of the word and is taking it day by day as he makes his way to his 101st birthday next year. He said his secret to longevity isn’t something that most of us would think of but something he swears by when it comes to staying healthy.
“I don’t eat any vegetables, aside from potatoes and corn,” he said. “I’ve never smoked, never drank, and I don’t eat my vegetables.”
Updates on Johnson’s whereabouts can be found on his Facebook page, Harold C Johnson 376 and the Parachute Field Artillery, which West originally created for family and friends, but said it’s also for the public to enjoy as well as her dad loves sharing his stories.
For more information on Rittenhouse Village of Portage, visit their website at rittenhousevillages.com/rittenhouse-village-at-portage.
