Langdon Elmer Johnson Jr. (1918 - 1944)

Born 18 May 1918 in Keystone, Marion, West Virginia, United States

Died 12 Aug 1944 at age 26 in Marseilles, France

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Biography

Lt Langdon Johnson Jr. was Missing in Action during World War II.

Langdon Johnson Jr. is a Military Veteran.
Served in the United States Army Air Force 100th Fighter Squadron 1943-1944
Tuskegee Airman flying Ace

Langdon Johnson Jr. was awarded the Purple Heart.

Langdon Johnson Jr. is Notable.

Langdon was born in 1918, in West Virginia, the son of Langdon Johnson and Nellie Woods. ^[1]. At the time of his birth, Langdon's father was a cobbler for a shoe store. His father passed in 1928. Nellie, his mother, was the owner of the house in 1930, and Langdon was living there with his two brothers.^[2]. All were living with their mother in 1940 as well, but Aaron the eldest was working in a coal mine while the younger two, Langdon and George, were attending school.

Langdon graduated from the Tuskegee Flight School on 28 May 1943 and in December of that same year he was deployed to Italy to join the 100th Fighter Squadron 332 Fighter Group. He was based in Ranitelli, Italy and was part of an elite group of escort planes to bombers. He flew his first mission on the 5th of Feb. 1944. On July 20th, he was escorting B-24 bombers to Friedrichshafen, Germany. He and three others were able to shoot down one enemy plane each.

His last mission would be on the 12th of August, when he was on an escort mission to Toulon France, to destroy radar stations. His plane was hit by flak from anti aircraft fire over Cap Couronne, Carro, south of Martigues Provence, France, and his P-51 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea with no way for Langdon to have time to escape.^[3] His body was never recovered. Langdon's name is inscribed upon the Tablets of the Missing in Rhone American Cemetery in France. ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN2Y-686 : accessed 29 June 2020), Langdon E Johnson, Jr in household of Langton Johnson, Keystone, McDowell, West Virginia, United States; citing ED 55, sheet 4A, line 1, family 69, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1959; FHL microfilm 1,821,959.
2. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMH9-Y3B : accessed 29 June 2020), L Elmer Johnson in household of Marie Johnson, Malden, Kanawha, West Virginia, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 75, sheet 20A, line 18, family 136, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2539; FHL microfilm 2,342,273.
3. ↑ MACR 7469; A/C 42-103918; pg 5.
4. ↑ https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/johnson%3Dlangdon