A tribute to Johnny
The man that made the man that made me
This post started life as a test to see whether I prefered Medium or Svbtle as a blogging platform but I soon realised that this subject is actually something I’d like to get down on (virtual) paper sooner or later anyway.
Obviously I’m not expecting anyone but me (and maybe Dad I suppose) to read this so if you stumble upon it I can’t promise it’s going to make for great reading. I’m sure you can find some other good articles not too far away.
Albert Charles Johnson
Albert Charles Johnson, known to his friends as neither Albert nor Charles but Johnny.
His name is about all I know about him with any certainty because my Dad doesn’t talk about his Dad much, or at all really.
Johnny died while I was very young although somewhere I’ve misplaced a photo of me as a tiny baby, just a few days old sitting on his lap. He’s looking at the camera with eyes hidden behind thick rimmed glasses with the classic no-nonsense look so popular of men of his generation.
Everything else I know about Grandad is based on throw away comments and overheard stories.
He spent many years of Dad’s childhood away working in Nigeria as Director of Africa for a civil engineering company. He had also worked on the Mulberry Harbours during the great war but like just about everything to do with Johnny details as to specifically what he contributed to the top secret project are hard to come by….