actions in Normandy, Johnson was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Operation Market Garden The 101st Airborne was ordered to seize of highway, including several bridges, in the Netherlands as part of the combined airborne/armored Operation Market Garden. On 17 September 1944 the 501st PIR landed approximately east of its planned drop zone near the town of Veghel. On 8 October 1944 the 501st PIR was dug in on the "Island" a small strip of land between the Waal and Rhine rivers. Johnson and his young executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel Julian Ewell, a West Point graduate, were visiting the front lines. Suddenly, some mortar shells hit the area killing or wounding several soldiers. A large fragment hit the Johnson in the stomach. The medics knew that the wound was very serious, if not fatal. Two hours later, Johnson groaned, "Take care of my boys" to Ewell and died soon after. References 1903 births 1944 deaths United States Army colonels United States Army personnel killed in World War II Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Military personnel from Maryland