RM3c John Russell Johnson

Like most men killed on the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor, John Russell Johnson never traveled far from home until he joined the Navy.

Mr. Johnson was born Aug. 14, 1918 in Brockton, Massachusetts. His father, John, worked at a last factory, and his mother, Mildred, was a homemaker. The son graduated from Brockton High School in 1936. 

He enlisted in October 1937 and was a radioman and petty officer third class when he was killed in the Japanese attack, Dec. 7, 1941.

His high school yearbook described him as “Ambitious, nautical, exotic. Band. A sailor is what John’s to be; We wish him luck while on the sea.”

Mr. Johnson was survived by his widow, Eleanor Louise. They were high school sweethearts and married in 1939. They attended First Baptist Church. Mrs. Johnson lived with her parents while he was in the Navy.

Sources: Census; Navy muster roll; Massachusetts birth index and marriage index; The Enterprise of Brockton; the Associated Press; Veterans Administration. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.