JOHNSON, AUGUST DAVID

Name: August David Johnson
Rank/Branch: E3/US Navy Reserve
Unit: River Squadron 5, PBR 51
Date of Birth: 10 January 1943 (Opalousas LA)
Home City of Record: Houston TX
Date of Loss: 03 February 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 095851N 1062115E (XS484035)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: PBR51

Other Personnel In Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: BLOWN UP BY GRENADE IN BOAT

SYNOPSIS: Seaman August D. Johnson, USNR, was assigned to River Squadron 5
onboard river patrol boat 51. On February 3, 1967, Johnson and the rest of his
patrol boat crew were on a routine river operation, "Game Warden". At 9:45 p.m.
the boat was proceeding down the Co Chien River west of My Tho, South Vietnam,
when they were directed to assist another river patrol boat in picking up three
men who were found clinging to a swamped sampan.

As the patrol boats approached, the crewmen called to the men to swim to their
boats. The men refused. Johnson's boat pursued one of the men, who was
attempting to swim away. The crew threw the man a line and life ring. As the
swimmer was pulled near the boat, he threw a hand grenade into the patrol boat.
It fell on the deck and exploded seconds later. Johnson and another cremember
jumped overboard to avoid the blast. One crewman stated that he heard him
shouting in the water just after the explosion. Johnson was neither seen nor
heard thereafter. The three Viet Cong that were in the water were shot by the
crew of the other boat (precluding their having captured Johnson).

An immediate search of the area was started by eight other river patrol boats
and four helicopters. Flares were dropped and the search progressed throughout
the night without any sign of Johnson. It was the opinion of the officer in
charge that Johnson died and his body was not recoverable. One major fact that
leads one to believe that Johnson drowned was that he could not swim and that he
was wearing jungle boots and a heavy foul weather jacket at the time of the
incident. Seaman Johnson was listed as Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered.

Johnson is listed among the missing because his body was never located to send
home to the country he served. His case seems clear. For others missing, details
do not suggest their certain death, but rather, in many cases, their survival.
Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports have been received relating to
Americans still held captive in Southeast Asia. Although Johnson is almost
certainly not one of them, one can imagine him proudly making one more patrol to
help them to freedom.

