Eric Bernard Johnson

SP4 Eric Johnson was born and raised on a farm in the Laurens area. He graduated from Webb Consolidated High School in 1963 and went on to Emmetsburg Junior College and Wayne State College where he received a degree in elementary education. He taught in Creston for one year before receiving his draft notice and entered the Army in June 1968. Johnson was assigned to C Battery, 319th Artillery, 101st Airborne Division and arrived in Vietnam on Thanksgiving Day. His death came on May 13, 1969 during a battle in the A Shau Valley when the howitzer he was standing next to was destroyed by enemy artillery. He was buried at the Washington Cemetery in Havelock Iowa.