Grover M. Johnson Jr.: An Only Son in the Vietnam War

By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina

Grover Milton Johnson Jr. was born on September 30, 1947, in Lee County, N.C., to Grover Milton and Gertrude Womble Johnson. Grover Johnson Sr. served during World War II in Company L. 19th Infantry, U.S. Army, having entered military service before the war in 1940. The Johnson family lived in Chatham County, N.C., and they came to live in Siler City, N.C., while Grover Johnson Sr. worked as a cabinet maker. Grover M. Johnson Sr. died in 1956 in Kempsville, Virginia, after committing suicide. Grover Johnson Jr. attended and graduated from Jordan Matthews High School in Siler City in 1966. Prior to entering military service, Johnson Jr. worked as a stock clerk at Byrds Food Center in Siler City.

VW 3.B2.F8.1: Group unit photograph of the 2nd Platoon, Company E, 9th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, at the U.S. Army Training Center at Fort Bragg, N.C., on January 13, 1967. Grover M. Johnson of Siler City, N.C., is pictured in the back row, fifth from right (January 13, 1967) [Photograph by: Nolan Studio].

Now that the federal draft was instituted during the Vietnam War in the spring of 1966, Johnson. was drafted into the U.S. Army and inducted on November 8, 1966, at Fort Bragg, N.C. He served in Company E, 9th Battalion, 2nd Brigade, during basic training at Fort Bragg, and became squad leader. Johnson remained at Fort Bragg through mid-January 1967, when he was assigned to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for his advanced individual training (AIT). At Fort Dix, Johnson was assigned to Company F, 5th Battalion, 5th Brigade, and again became squad leader. He would write during the early part of 1967 that he did not want to go to Vietnam, as many young Army soldiers also did not want to go. Johnson was training to be an Army supply clerk while at Fort Dix.

VW 3.B2.F9.1: Snapshot of Grover M. Johnson Jr., wearing civilian clothes with a jacket and a cigarette in his mouth, standing outside next to some tropical plants at Headquarters Company, Headquarters, U.S. Army Ryukyu Islands (USARYIS), base grounds on Okinawa during the Vietnam War. Photograph taken while Johnson Jr. was stationed at USARYIS (circa 1967).

By the first week of April 1967, Grover Johnson Jr. was traveling from the United States for service in Vietnam. He arrived by about April 6, 1967, in Vietnam after traveling through Okinawa. Johnson served as a Private First Class in the 569th General Supply Company at Camp Davies, a U.S. Army installation about a mile from Saigon, Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).

VW 3.B3.F3.S67: Photograph of Gertrude Womble Johnson, mother of Grover M. Johnson Jr., in her kitchen at the Johnson family home in Siler City, N.C. [believed taken either on a leave from the military or upon Johnson Jr.’s return home from Vietnam War service] (undated).

As the sole-surviving male child of the Johnson family, Gertrude Johnson wrote frequently to the U.S. military leadership, congressmen, and the U.S. State Department, attempting to get her son Grover out of serving in-country in Vietnam. For at least a couple of months, Gertrude attempted to get her son back to the United States or to a different station location overseas — even traveling to Washington, D.C., in April 1967 to visit with government officials.

VW 3.B2.F10.9: Snapshot of two U.S. Army jeeps parked on the road leading to the Saigon City Hall [or Saigon Parliament Building] in downtown Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, in 1967. A Vietnamese boy is seen talking to the driver of one of the Army jeeps. Photograph taken by or collected by Grover M. Johnson Jr. while he was stationed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War [1967].

The 1964-amended Military Selective Service Act did have a provision for surviving sons, providing that where a family member had died as a result of military service, the remaining family members should be protected insofar as possible. If a draft resumed during a war or national emergency not declared by Congress — such as the Vietnam War — a man who had another brother, a sister, a father, or a mother killed or missing in action while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, would not be drafted. However, there must have been a military service-related death of an immediate family member for a man to receive this deferment. Simply being an “only” son in a family did not suffice. As a result of this policy, Grover Johnson remained at Camp Davies for much of 1967.

VW 3.B2.F11.14: Silvering snapshot of Grover M. Johnson Jr., wearing a white T-shirt and dark-colored sunglasses, kneeling outside in front of the door to the barracks for the 569th General Supply Company, U.S. Army, at Camp Davies, an Army installation about a mile from Saigon, Republic of Vietnam. Photograph taken in 1967 while Johnson Jr. was stationed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War [1967].

VW 3.B2.F9.10: Snapshot of Grover M. Johnson Jr., wearing his U.S. Army uniform and holding a rifle, leaning against the side of an Army guard watch tower in Vietnam in 1967 during the Vietnam War. A camera that Johnson Jr. and his friends were using to take photographs while on guard duty is seen sitting on the railing. Johnson was based out of Camp Davies, a U.S. Army installation about a mile from Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, when this photograph was taken [1967].

VW 3.B2.F9.6: Silvering snapshot of Grover M. Johnson Jr. (right), wearing his U.S. Army uniform, and an unidentified U.S. Army soldier without a shirt, standing between barracks buildings at Camp Davies, a U.S. Army installation about a mile from Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, in 1967 during the Vietnam War [1967].

During his time in Vietnam, Johnson took up photography with his Kodak Instamatic 104 camera — which he purchased within the first week of arriving in-country — and later a Polaroid Swinger instant camera. Later in 1968, he would purchase two other cameras, including a Petri 75. He would visit the Saigon USO Club, sightsee in the area, and travel with some of his military buddies on days off. Johnson remained at Camp Davies until the first week of June 1967, when he was reassigned to Okinawa, initially assigned to the Army Replacement Depot there until assigned a permanent unit.

VW 3.B3.F1.11: Photograph of Grover M. Johnson Jr., wearing civilian clothes and dark-colored sunglasses, standing next to the sign for Headquarters Company, Headquarters, U.S. Army Ryukyu Islands (USARYIS), on Okinawa during the Vietnam War around 1968. Military buildings and a car are seen in the background. Photograph taken by or collected by Grover M. Johnson Jr. while he was stationed on Okinawa at USARYIS (circa 1968).

VW 3.B3.F1.17: Photograph of Grover M. Johnson Jr., wearing civilian clothes and dark-colored sunglasses, standing in an alley behind some buildings in an unidentified city [believed to be onOkinawa], with two young girls standing in the middle of the alley behind Johnson Jr. Photograph taken while Johnson Jr. was stationed on Okinawa at USARYIS (undated).

VW 3.B3.F3.S14: Photograph of Grover M. Johnson Jr., shown without a shirt and holding a cigarette, standing outside of a building on the U.S. Army Ryukyu Islands (USARYIS) base grounds on Okinawa during the Vietnam War. Photograph taken while Johnson Jr. was stationed at USARYIS (circa 1968).

VW 3.B3.F3.S16: Photograph of Grover M. Johnson Jr., wearing his U.S. Army uniform and dark-colored sunglasses, slouched on a leather couch in an unidentified office at the U.S. Army Ryukyu Islands (USARYIS) base on Okinawa during the Vietnam War. Photograph taken while Johnson Jr. was stationed at USARYIS (circa 1968).

Grover Johnson Jr. was assigned to Headquarters Company, Headquarters, U.S. Army Ryukyu Islands (USARYIS), working in the supply room at the headquarters on Okinawa. Johnson studied Japanese while on Okinawa, first being taught by a friend and later through Army classes, in order to communicate with the local population and hired laborers working with the U.S. military. During July 1967, Johnson began dating a local Japanese woman named A-Ko or Ako, who worked a restaurant — despite the fact that he had a girlfriend back in Siler City, N.C. To pass the time when he was not working, Johnson began playing golf, ping pong, pool, and football.

VW 3.B2.F10.10: Snapshot of an unidentified female performer on a microphone on a stage at an outdoors USO Shows presentation of “Stateside Showtime” in Vietnam, with several U.S. Army soldiers pictured in the foreground. Photograph taken by or collected by Grover M. Johnson Jr. while he was stationed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War [1967].

VW 3.B3.F2.1: Snapshot of an unidentified Okinawan woman [believed to be a local Japanese woman named A-Ko or Ako whom Grover M. Johnson Jr. was dating], playing pool at an outdoor covered pool hall on Okinawa. Photograph taken by or collected by Grover M. Johnson Jr. while he was stationed on Okinawa at USARYIS (undated).

By February 1968, Grover Johnson Jr. reached the rank of Specialist Fourth Class (SP/4). As his military service was coming to an end, he shared with his mother in August 1968 that he would like to go to business school or learn some trade, in order to have something to fall back on for a career. Between late September and early October 1968, Johnson left Okinawa for the United States, coming to California for processing out. Grover Johnson Jr. was honorably discharged from active military service on October 7, 1968.

VW 3.B3.F3.S70: Photograph of Grover M. Johnson Jr., lying on the couch in the living room of the Johnson family house, with the family dog lying by his side with its legs up in the air. Johnson Jr. is shown wearing jeans and a white T-shirt [believed taken either on a leave from the military or upon Johnson Jr.’s return home from Vietnam War service] (undated).

After his military service ended, Johnson returned home to Siler City, N.C. He would go onto to become co-owner and operator of Elder Printing Company, Inc., in Siler City. Grover M. Johnson Jr. died on November 2, 2009, in Chapel Hill, N.C., and was buried in Haywood Baptist Church Cemetery in Moncure, N.C.

VW 3.B3.F3.S43: Photograph of women walking down the sidewalk in an unidentified city’s downtown in Okinawa [believed to be Naha, Okinawa] during the Vietnam War. A busy street scene is seen in the background. Photograph taken by or collected by Grover M. Johnson Jr. while he was stationed on Okinawa at USARYIS during the Vietnam War (circa 1968).

You can learn more about the life and service of Ernest Payne in the Grover M. Johnson Jr. Papers (VW 3), part of the Vietnam War Papers of the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina in Raleigh, N.C. All of Johnson Jr.’s photographs are available for viewing on the State Archives of North Carolina’s Flickr page here: https://bit.ly/2TInARy.

Resources

Information on the sole-survivor policy during the Vietnam War was taken from the article “Only Sons and Sole Surviving Sons,” U.S. Selective Service System’s official website, at https://www.sss.gov/About/Return-to-Conscription/Only-Sons-and-Sole-Surviving-Sons