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Ellsworth Johnson, Last Survivor of a Secret Army Unit, Dies at 100 Ellsworth Johnson, Last Survivor of a Secret Army Unit, Dies at 100
(32 minutes later)
Ellsworth Johnson, an American medic who parachuted into enemy-occupied France and China during World War II and was believed to be the last surviving member of an Operations Group that spawned today’s Green Berets, died on Sept. 30 in Zeeland, Mich. He was 100.Ellsworth Johnson, an American medic who parachuted into enemy-occupied France and China during World War II and was believed to be the last surviving member of an Operations Group that spawned today’s Green Berets, died on Sept. 30 in Zeeland, Mich. He was 100.
His death was confirmed by his daughter-in-law, Anna Johnson. It came four weeks after he was presented with an Army Special Forces tab and a Green Beret in a ceremony at the assisted living facility where he lived near Grand Rapids, Mich.His death was confirmed by his daughter-in-law, Anna Johnson. It came four weeks after he was presented with an Army Special Forces tab and a Green Beret in a ceremony at the assisted living facility where he lived near Grand Rapids, Mich.
“This is an extremely rare event and, quite frankly, the last of its kind that will ever occur,” Major Russell M. Gordon, the director of public affairs for the 1st Special Forces Command, said of the ceremony.“This is an extremely rare event and, quite frankly, the last of its kind that will ever occur,” Major Russell M. Gordon, the director of public affairs for the 1st Special Forces Command, said of the ceremony.
And Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, the deputy commanding general of the Army Special Operations Command, said during the event: “Everything that he did in 1944 — we model ourselves on in our training and the operations that we conduct. It’s our origin story.”And Maj. Gen. Patrick Roberson, the deputy commanding general of the Army Special Operations Command, said during the event: “Everything that he did in 1944 — we model ourselves on in our training and the operations that we conduct. It’s our origin story.”
Mr. Johnson, who was known as Al, was born in an Army hospital in Ohio and spent his early years on bases where his father served in the military. When Al was drafted in 1943, he was trained as a medic but volunteered for an unidentified hazardous assignment while awaiting deployment in a Denver Army camp.
“My disappointment at being a medic was great,” he wrote in a memoir, “Behind Enemy Lines: The O.S.S. in World War II” (2019). “I knew that surgical training would at least keep me out of a ward where I could expect to be no more than a bedpan jockey.”