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• Description: ...into the Army in August of 1944 and was sent to Camp Wood, Texas, for three months of Basic Training. He was then shipped to Scotland aboard the SS Queen Mary and was quickly transferred to South Hampton, shipped across the English Channel to the Normandy beachfront, and trained up to the f...
• Text: ...dn’t run into them but guess they knew what they were doing. Interviewer: “Alright, okay so what happens when you get to Scotland?” There was a great big warehouse or something that all the men, after we got off the ship, the men all got in this big warehouse and then it wasn’t ver...

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• Text: ...It was nice, we had an exchange and stuff. It was nice. I learned how to ski in Scotland–– you know, one of those 96hour days or 96-hour periods. 30 of us from the same flight took a bus up to Scotland and would learn how to ski. So, we did a lot of traveling and stuff–– it...

William Johnson was born in Union, Mississippi, on September 14th, 1936. He enlisted in the Army in 1955. He was processed in Fort Wayne, Michigan, issued his equipment in Fort Knox, Kentucky, and attended basic training in Fort Carson, Colorado. He then went to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri for advanced training. Johnson was originally to join the 18th Engineer Brigade, but later decided to go to Fort Campbell, Kentucky for airborne training and joined the 11th Airborne Division. After that, his unit was deployed to Munich, Germany. Due to fights between units, the 11th Airborne Division was deactivated and Johnson joined the 24th Regiment, 8th Infantry Division. He stayed in Germany until December 1958 before going to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he reenlisted and was assigned to the 504th Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. While at Fort Bragg, his unit went to Mississippi to respond to the conflict that occurred when James Meredith was not allowed to enroll in the University of Mississippi in 1962. Later that year, his unit was flown to Eglin Airforce Base in Florida to respond to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Johnson left Fort Bragg in 1963, after which he was assigned to go to Mainz and Bad Kreuznach, Germany as a part of the 8th Infantry Division, 509th Airborne Infantry Brigade. He stayed in Germany until 1966, then went to Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was the operation sergeant at the airborne training school. In 1967, he was flown to Clark Air Force base in the Philippines before arriving in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. He then went to Phan Rang where he joined the 101st Airborne Division, 2nd Batallion, 502nd Infantry Regiment. Later, he went to Tam Ky, then Chu Lai where he was assigned to be an S-2 sergeant. After that, he went back to Phan Rang and then to Song Be. When the Tet Offensive began, his unit left for Da Nang. From there, they went towards A Shau Valley and set up Firebase Bastogne. Then, they went to Veghel and another firebase, where they were fired at, and Johnson got injured in the cheek. In 1968, Johnson flew back home where he was assigned to the 505th Infantry Regiment. In 1969, he was assigned to the SILK PURSE Control Group in England and returned home in 1972 to work with the Michigan National Guard Advisory group until he retired in 1976.

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• Text: ...Kong when it was still occupied by the British and we had a friendly game of rugby with the Royal Black Watch which was from Scotland. And that stood out to me because they were stationed there, they had their families there, and halfway through the game I remember we had to–– because t...

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• Text: ...Veteran: I really can’t remember where we landed. It has gone from my mind. Interviewer: Okay. Well, some people landed in Scotland and some of them landed at Liverpool. You could have gone to Bristol, I suppose. Veteran: I think if I am not mistaken now, I recall Liverpool. Interviewer: ...