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Orange honors trucker in WWII's Red Ball Express
Historical societies recognize man for his service in transport corps that helped Allied armies prevail
Date published: 3/22/2005 By ROB HEDELT LIKE MANY PEOPLE who served in World War II, Orange County's Heywood Johnson has certain scenes burned into his brain with transcendent clarity. There's one in particular that haunts the 85-year-old veteran, a driver for the celebrated "Red Ball Express" transport corps that shuttled mountains of ammo, gas and more from Normandy to the advancing Allied armies in 1944. Johnson's emotionally charged moment came on one of those runs, driving one of the heavy transports that he and another driver kept on the road 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On that fateful day, Johnson gritted his teeth watching a crew load the final cases of ammunition onto his truck. It was time to go, and his assistant had wandered off. The Army's 140 truck companies in the transport service had an ironclad rule: Except for loading or unloading, a truck never sat still. The assistant arrived a minute or so later, though by then he'd earned a lecture on punctuality. Rolling the big truck out onto the road, Johnson kept one eye on the skies, where German "buzz bombs" often appeared. "Suddenly, we heard an explosion on the road up ahead," said Johnson. "When we came to a curve in the road, there was a buzz bomb burning, the road all torn up on our side." Seeing the flames burn brightly all these years later, he added, "If we'd left on time, if he hadn't made me wait that extra minute, that's right about where we would have been. That bomb might have dropped down right on us." Last week, two Orange County historical societies honored Johnson for his service in the unit that's gotten a great deal of attention in recent years. Warren Dunn, executive director of the Orange County Historical Society, noted that the unit, which took its name from the railroad term for "Priority Freight," was critical to the success of the Allied armies.
Date published: 3/22/2005
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