Levi M. Johnston

Levi M. Johnston, formerly of Hanover, passed away under the loving care of his wife, children and VNA-Hospice at their home at Heritage Heights in Concord, NH.

He was born June 2, 1924, in Claremont, NH, the son of William Orville and Beatrice (Tatro) Johnston. He was pre-deceased by his parents and sister, Jennie Sweeney.

Following graduation from Stevens High School in 1943, he entered the U.S. Navy. He qualified for accelerated training at Wentworth Institute in Boston. Serving in the Pacific Theater at the U.S. Supply Depot on the island of Guam as Generator Mechanic First Class until the war ended.

He and his beloved, Jacqueline Parker, married October 15, 1949. They raised three children and lived for fifty-four years in the house they designed and built themselves on the bank of the Connecticut River in Hanover.

A third generation carpenter first working with his father constructing their house. He was employed at Trumbull-Nelson Construction Company in Hanover, for 34 years, the last 25 as draftsman/estimator/project manager. He served as committee chairman for the boy scouts, in many capacities in the Church of Christ in Hanover, Building Code Advisory Board for Town of Hanover, Past Master of Franklin Lodge #6 in Lebanon, held many offices in Kimball Chapter #26 OES, and Grand Chaplain and later Worthy Grand Patron of the Grand Chapter of NH, OES. He was made a Master Mason in Franklin Lodge # 6, Lebanon, NH on September 26, 1977 and served his Lodge as Worshipful Master.

He was the holder of the Major General John Sullivan Distinguished Service Award in Bronze presented on June 21. 1993 and again in Silver for his continued Distinguished Service on August 25, 2011.

He was a member of the York Rite Bodies in Claremont, Cheshire/Webb Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, Columbian/St. John's Council of Cryptic Masons and Sullivan/Hugh dePayens Commandery, which have merged with the York Rite Bodies in Concord, NH.


Levi is survived by his wife, Jacqueline; a daughter, Linda Reinhart and her husband Stephen of Fitzwilliam; a son, William Johnston of Nashua; a daughter, Sheri Nivens and her husband Carl of Mont Vernon; a son, Charles Farnsworth and his wife, Ann, from Columbia, VA. His much loved grandchildren: Hannah Vayens and her husband Rene of Antrim; Aaron Faatz who is attending Green Mountain College in Vermont; Jessica Byam and her husband Gerry of New Boston; and Casey Nivens of Mont Vernon. He was happy he lived to hold and admire three great-grandchildren, Aryanah, Briella and William.

Masonic, personal and OES services will be held at the Congregational Church of Hooksett at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 1. In lieu of flowers, please send a contribution to Concord VNA – Hospice.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY
by
LEVI MERRILL JOHNSTON

VITAL STATISTICS

Born June 2, 1924, in Claremont, New Hampshire, the son of William Orville Johnston and Beatrice Adelia Tatro who were born near Clarenceville, Quebec, Canada, and Naturalized United States Citizens in 1935.

Lived in Claremont until 1949; then Hanover, New Hampshire, to present.

One sister, Jennie Gertrude, born June 30, 1917.

Attended local schools -- graduated Stevens High School 1943.

Entered U.S. Navy July 1943.

Boot camp -- Newport, Rhode Island
Wentworth Institute -- Boston, Massachusetts
Prestolite Gas School -- Indianpolis, Indiana
United States Navy Base -- Norfolk, Virginia
Tanforan Navy Base -- San Bruno, Califoria
United States Supply Depot -- Guam, Mariana Islands
Treasure Island -- San Francisco Bay, California
Fargo Building -- Boston, Massachusetts
Discharged -- April 1946 -- MMG 1st Class*
*Machinists Mate (Industrial Gas Generator Mechanic First Class)

Married October 15, 1949, to Mildred Jacqueline Parker of Bellows Falls, Vermont.

Children: Linda Ann -- September 11, 1952
William Parker -- June 12, 1955
Sheri Jen - February 19, 1959

Jobs Pre Navy:
Working with my father building our house
Gas station attendant
Mowed lawns (for neighbors)
Handyman/groundskeeper (for a teacher)
Millwright's helper -- Joy Manufacturing Company



Jobs Post Navy:
House painter
Maintenance/installer --Claremont Gas Company
Milling Machine operator -- Joy Manufacturing Company, 3 yrs.
Building Construction - laborer to foreman, H&S Richardson,
Hanover, New Hampshire, 7 yrs.
Trouble shooter to Estimator/Project Manager, Trumbull-Nelson
Construction Company, Inc., Hanover, New Hampshire, 34 yrs.

CHILDHOOD

My childhood was very happy with lots of family gatherings, any excuse for a picnic, for example. Involved with cousins and friends for skiing, skating, sliding, hockey, snow forts and snowball fights in winter. Hiking, camping, swimming, fishing with one of my uncles, hide go seek with 20 to 25 neighborhood kids, baseball, football, etc., in the summer. Building airplane models and flying them at the local airport on Saturday mornings was special. Mr. Ed Spooner managed our local airport and he would close down all air traffic on every other Saturday morning until noon. It was open to all comers who had a model to fly whether it was a glider or gas powered, controlled or free flight, just to see if the darned thing would fly or in competition. I also had my first airplane ride with Mr. Spooner in his double open cockpit Stearman biplane. It was a blast!! Boys Scouts was very important in my youth. I still consider scouting, Boy and Girls, a very worthwhile organization for a young person to become involved in.

1940 was a special year. My parents started building their new house at 277 Mulberry Street (on Bible Hill), that spring. Father dug the cellar hole with a horse drawing a scoop. The forms were built and the foundation poured with help from uncles, friends and some of the men father worked with. I, of course, was in the thick of the activity. I had gone to many of father's jobs on Saturdays or school holidays. I learned to keep out of the way of the workmen and at the same time, without realizing it, absorbed a great deal about construction so, as our new house progressed I was able to work side by side with Father thus furthering my skills He would start projects with me each evening; then he would go to his regular job the next day leaving me to complete the projects. He would pick up my mother each day after work and bring her and a big picnic basket to the new house. While we were working, mother would lay out our supper and we would stop just long enough to eat; then back to the hammer and saw. Some evenings we would back the car down a little slope in the driveway to shine the headlights up on the house so we could keep working. There were always extra hammers available for visitors. Some of my buddies used to come up during the day and I would put them to work and we would apply the same to friends who dropped in during the evening. The relationship between my mother, father and me was extremely close.

Last but far from least are the times when I spent my school vacations on my uncles' farms (3) in northern Vermont, especially during sugaring in the spring and haying in the summer.

1943-1946

Signed up with the U.S. Navy as a selective volunteer in April of 1943 with a guarantee that I would be "allowed" to finish high school before I was called. My draft number was called in June and I took my oath on July 8, 1943. Boot camp was in Newport, Rhode Island, where fun and games dissolved into pre-dawn to dark drills, forced hikes, calisthenics, shooting range, seamanship lectures, marching, inspections over and over at orders from our drill instructor at the top of his voice. I do not recall ever hearing him say "please" or "thank you," but he took a bunch of green kids and three months later sent alert, physically fit, disciplined young men out into the naval ranks to serve their country.

Through oral and written tests I qualified for accelerated training at Wentworth Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. We were housed at the Somerset Hotel and marched about two miles to and from school six days each week spending about ten hours in classes each day.

My graduating class consisted of 300 sailors of which I was number twelve. My low number gave me the privilege of selecting my next assignment (duty). My choice was a machine shop in a "light Cruiser," a fast ship of little over two football fields in length (600'-0"). Had my pick of two available ships but it was not to be. My education officer talked me into going to another school in Indianapolis, Indiana. On my arrival at the Naval Armory in Indianapolis, I was told that there was no room for our group but the Navy had taken over the local golf course's clubhouse which was next door to the Armory for our quarters. Our school was eight miles away at the Prestolite Company. We worked side by side with the regular employees building a trailer completely equipped to manufacture acetylene gas which is used for welding and cutting steel and certain other metals. When the trailer was complete, each team did a test run to make sure all systems worked properly. We then sealed the trailer for shipment, packed our gear and headed for our various places of embarkation. Our six man team went to Norfolk, Virginia, to await transportation to Edinborough, Scotland. Again, it wasn't to be.

Our orders were changed and our new destination was San Bruno, California, where we received further training in the use of firearms and were outfitted with combat uniforms. We finally boarded a Liberty Ship with our trailer and all our gear--destination Guam, Mariana Islands. It was a relatively uneventful trip given the circumstances that we were in enemy waters. Had a couple of submarine alerts which our destroyer escorts took care of. We stopped at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands. I can't begin to describe the destruction and devastation that greeted us as we sailed into the harbor. The only sound on our ship was the sound of the engines. Seven hundred and fifty men stood in awe, most with tears in their eyes, as we passed those huge ships sitting on the bottom of the bay with only masts or some superstructure showing above the water, knowing that the bodies of hundreds of sailors and marines were still in those ships. This was two years after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. After refueling and taking on supplies we moved on to Midway Island where we dropped off some of our convoy and picked up others ships and continued on to Guam. We had been aboard ship in very cramped quarters for thirty-two days. Imagine: narrow bunks stacked five and six high with barely enough room to turn over and just room enough for two men to squeeze by each other between the double stacks. Cozy!

Guam!! a volcanic upheaval surrounded by coral formations about 30 miles long and 10 miles wide, in their extreme dimensions, sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on the other side of the world. Actually it is only about one third of the way around the world going west. On going ashore the scene appeared to be like a giant ant hill with men and equipment going every conceivable direction but we soon learned that there was some order to the apparent chaos. We were assigned a piece of the puzzle and proceeded to set up our tents and get settled in. The next two weeks were devoted to unloading ships and trucks and general work details. Our objective was to set up a Naval Operating Base which was later to become the forward Naval Supply Depot; i.e., we supplied the Pacific Fleet with fuel, arms, food -- anything they needed, including repairs to damaged ships returning from battle.

I was assigned to work with a CB outfit (Naval Construction Battalion) because while still in the states I was given the task to draw a plan for the layout of our gas plant. When I reported to the officer in charge of the project, I was quite surprised to have him show me an unaltered copy of my plan. About two weeks later we had a flat site with concrete slabs and shelter for our gas plant trailer, Quonset huts for storage, loading platforms, etc. Our six man crew set up our plant and started producing acetylene gas in one day. We shut down the plant every thirty days for eight hours for general maintenance -- otherwise it ran three eight hour shifts (24 hours) per day, seven days a week, for the eighteen months that I was on the island. The last six months I was senior petty officer in charge of the acetylene plant. At that time we had two trailers running and a twelve man crew. In the eighteen months that I am familiar with we produced well over sixty thousand cylinders of acetylene gas for welding and cutting by the Navy and CB's and also for Army, Marines and Air Force use. In our "off duty" hours we were sometimes required to do guard duty and go on patrols because there were still many Japanese soldiers out in the hills, jungle and in numerous caves. For them the war was over and they had to be captured. I was very fortunate in that I was never involved in a fire fight because any of the Japanese that we found came peacefully, exhausted and hungry. The Army and Marines were not so lucky. They had to flush out the Japanese soldiers that were deep in the jungle areas and the caves. Most of those were "regular" soldiers and Imperial Marines whose code of behavior was "death before dishonor." Security was all important on the island because Admiral Nimitz (C in C PAC) Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet made his headquarters there.

The people of Guam, called Chamorros, were a warm and friendly people, surprisingly so after the brutality they suffered during the Japanese occupation of their island paradise. Everything as they knew it was destroyed except their spirit. The tiny village of Agat was about a mile from our gas plant. We had built an outrigger canoe out of an aircraft gas tank and used it to go fishing in the bay. The Japanese forces had destroyed all the boats, canoes and rafts in the village, so we went fishing with hand grenades (very illegal now) filling our canoe with all the fish we could carry and still stay afloat, taking them to the village and giving them to the natives. Before the war, fish was one of the main staples of their diet. After the Japanese came, their diet was reduced to mostly breadfruit, coconuts, wild bananas and papaya. The U.S. Navy provided the natives with food and gradually cleared areas where they could grow vegetables and livestock but it was a long time before they returned to their old ways and were able to fish the reefs and lagoons surrounding the island. Before the last of our original six man crew left the island, a couple of us paddled the "gas tank outrigger" down to the village and left it on the beach with two friends, Jose and Jacquin. I like to think that just maybe we made a difference in that little corner of the world.

I left Guam the last week in February 1946 on another Liberty Ship, no stops, no convoy, no speed constraints and arrived back at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay in a little over two weeks. It took another two weeks of processing; i.e., physical exams, interviews, bringing records up to date and arranging transportation before being sent on our way. In my case it was to the Fargo Building in Boston, Massachusetts. There again were physical exams, dental exams, interviews, record checks then a final pay check and discharge. The war was over and I was on my way home -- April 13, 1946. I came home safe without a scratch. I was lucky that my tour of duty was in supply rather than in the "field" (aboard ship). I never knew what happened to the two cruisers that were available to me. I am grateful to the Education Officer at Wentworth Institute who encouraged me to accept the offer of another school.

Of the original six man gas crew Chris Schultz, the oldest, has passed away; Charlie Burpee lived in Normal, Illinois (now deceased); Herb Wood lives in Rotunda, Florida (presumed dead); Frank Ries I've lost track of, did live in Fall River, Massachusetts; and Henry Snyder lived in Somerville, Massachusetts, the last I knew. I kept in touch with Charlie and Herb; the others I have never heard from.

After returning back to Claremont, I learned that some of my old friends were not coming back from World War II.

Eddie Hutcheon - Infantry - died when a building collapsed in London, England, during a German bombing raid.

John Lanseth - Infantry - died on the beach in Normandy, France.

John Hauge - Air Force - shot down over France.

Peter Weare - Infantry - died in action in Italy.

Adrian Foisey - Navy - destroyer sunk. He survived then took his own life rather than go back aboard ship.

The war was behind me, time to get on with life. It took some time to get reacquainted with friends and relatives again and get back in the swing of normal living. I started helping a man paint my uncle's house and wound up spending the summer painting houses. It was a nice transition period. In the meantime I had a couple of friends who were eager to go to Northampton, Massachusetts, where a couple of young ladies they were dating were attending college but they had no way to cover the 80 miles to get there. I had access to a car, so they made arrangements for a blind date for me if I would take them to their rendezvous. I agreed and on arrival I met a lovely, dark haired young lady who, it turned out, could see perfectly well. I, on the other hand, was blinded so that 68 years later I see a lovely white haired, not so young, lady who has been my wife and the joy of my life for nearly 64 of those 68 years.

To be continued . . . .


12/03/00