JV Johnson
Sliver Star to Navy Cross

UPDATE:

LtCol Joe Johnson was honored 19 April 2023 at the Missouri State Capitol
in recognition of his valor as a helicopter crew chief in Vietnam.
Missouri State Senator Sandy Crawford of Buffalo will present
a courtesy resolution to LtCol Johnson in the House and Senate Chambers.

There is an effort on-going to have JV Johnson's Silver Star upgraded to a Navy Cross. We need individuals to corroborate what took place on his flight when Joe Devlin was killed on March 8, 1970.

Two CH-46's were launched on a resupply mission to the Coal Mines. The weather was awful, the aircraft had to resort to low-level flight at less than 100 feet (AGL). Devlin (history index) was killed by a single AK-47 round, Maj Locke (history index) was struck in the right arm by the same round. Crew Chief JV Johnson was able to save the flight and get the aircraft safely back to DaNang, where they landed at NSA. We are looking for the names of the two gunners who were on JV's aircraft. We are also looking for any information on the second aircraft that launched on this mission. If you still have your Aviators Flight Log Book, look up any flights that you made on March 8, 1970. The Mission code for this flight would have been 1R9 (resupply).

On 6 March 1970, Major Sellers of HMM-262 led a flight of four into the far west Thuong Duc Corridor to bring back two Recon Officers, dead or alive...not knowing that a 30,000-man NVA Division was making its way east from the Ho Chi Minh trail into the Thuong Duc Corridor at that same time. First Lieutenant John Kosinski, following the crash of ET-16 faced withering small arms fire as he made several trips into the crashed helicopter to remove injured aircrew (Danny Radish) and many CIDGs, while firing M-16s dropped by wounded CIDGs, some of whom died in his arms. John received a Bronze Star with a combat V.

Semper Fi
Harold G Walker,
LtCol USMCR (Ret)

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