T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History
Collection
INTERVIEWEE NAME:
General O. B. Johnson #4700.0821
IDENTIFICATION: [1920-1999]
General with the US Army Air Corps, pilot in World War II.
INTERVIEWER: Adele
Foster
PROJECT: World War
II
DATES: May 23, 1997; May 28, 1997. FOCUS DATES:
1930's-1940's
ABSTRACT:
T 1176
Major General O. B. Johnson's family information and early childhood;
family moves to Natchitoches to ensure college education of children; early
school memories; brief account of the lives of his siblings; early flying in Civil Pilot Training program; joining the
Army Air Corps; dating his wife in college; teaching high school; going to
flying school at Spartan School of Aeronautics; active duty in the National
Guard assigned to Indiana National Guard in charge of a squadron as an
engineering officer; volunteered to join the night fighters squadron; where he
was at when he heard the news about Pearl Harbor; flying submarine patrol out
of McDeal Field and out of New Orleans; training pilots in Orlando; flying with
British; providing defense for Paris; Paris after liberation; flying night
patrols against Germans; flying in bad weather during the daytime for which
they received a citation and the Presidential Unit Citation for flying; a reading
of the success of the squadron which had the best record of any night fighter
unit squadron; marriage after the war; assignments after the war; what the
attitude was toward the returning G. I.'s; assigned to Pentagon to work in
fighter requirements; the start of the cold war; working and living in post-war
Japan; commanding fighter group at O'Hare; reassigned to Pentagon to command
the Washington Air Defense Sector; going to the Imperial Defense College in
London;
T 1177
Attending the Imperial Defense College in London; political and
military discussion held at the Imperial Defense College; a month long trip to
Africa as part of his Imperial Defense College education; meeting with African
leaders and natives; assistant D.O. at the U.S. Air Forces Europe during the
cold war and Berlin Crisis; becoming a Brigadier General; commanding the Washington Air Defense Sector at Fort
Lee, Virginia; commanding the 14th Aerospace Force; moving to Okinawa during
the Vietnam War; his son joining the Air Force and participating in Vietnam;
retiring form the Air Force and working in the civilian sector; moving to
Shreveport and becoming treasurer of
the city; working as the assistant to the
administrative officer in charge of city planning and construction;
moving to Baton Rouge and becoming active in the Methodist church; his
involvement with LSU ROTC.
T 1178
Supplies for making jam; working around the family farm; teaching
school and the lack of discipline problems; other duties while working at the
highschool; the depression having little effect on the country people; the role
of an officers wife; the contribution of his wife to his career; Johnson's
ideas regarding women in the military; the P-61; close calls while flying;
requirements for recruits passing the initial physical; working with the
British; seeing the remains of a concentration camps after the end of the war;
what the average German knew; the Marshall Plan; warheads in Russia;
Chennault's Flying Tigers; training experiences; morse code; plans that the
Germans flew at night; ways to identify
planes at night; the Battle of the Bulge; war targets by the British and the
American air forces; attitude of soldiers; involvement with Korea and Vietnam;
places to watch as possible future threats; American global involvement; the
foresight of his parents.
TAPES: 3 C90s T
1176, T 1177, T 1178 TOTAL PLAYING
TIME: 3.5 hours
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 140
RESTRICTIONS: None