DEWEY G. JOHNSTON, LT, USN

Dewey Johnston '34

Date of birth: January 20, 1910

Date of death: October 31, 1941

Age: 31

Lucky Bag

From the 1934 Lucky Bag:

DEWEY GEORGE JOHNSTON

Amber, Oklahoma

"Dewey" "Johnny" "Frankie"

HE said, "write me a biography, neither slapstick nor eulogy."

Dewey is a rare combination of common sense, understanding and tact, tolerant (as he must have been living with me) yet, possessing withal a tenacity of purpose instilled fighting the "acs." He is the politician of the family obtaining with his understanding of people things that words beget not. He has never made an enemy and his genuine interest in people is the kind of flattery devoid of hypocrisy.

His drags are legend — and a legend "What, you didn't like her? Her dad's got lots of money!"

The same fight with academics has made it difficult for Dewey to show what a hundred and seventy pounds of dynamite and speed can do, but this Lewis Firpo of the ring always manages to cinch a seat on the training table with an occasional Sunday workout. Each Spring Dewey can be seen showing up two hundred pound visitors in the shot put, until Johnston, Navy five points have blended into one. But he is in his own element when he takes to the water. "Johnston, step up and swim a width. Now watch carefully, everybody." And the whole room is proud of the "ah's" and "oh's" he receives as he churns up the water.

Few people have seen the Academy in its many phases as has Dewey — and fewer still have left it with more genuine friends. "Hey, Collie, have you seen my slipstick? No, it's not in the wastebasket. How about your laundry bag?"

Track 4, 3, 2, 1. Sub Squad 4, 3, 2. Boxing 3, 1. 2 P.O.

DEWEY GEORGE JOHNSTON

Amber, Oklahoma

"Dewey" "Johnny" "Frankie"

HE said, "write me a biography, neither slapstick nor eulogy."

Dewey is a rare combination of common sense, understanding and tact, tolerant (as he must have been living with me) yet, possessing withal a tenacity of purpose instilled fighting the "acs." He is the politician of the family obtaining with his understanding of people things that words beget not. He has never made an enemy and his genuine interest in people is the kind of flattery devoid of hypocrisy.

His drags are legend — and a legend "What, you didn't like her? Her dad's got lots of money!"

The same fight with academics has made it difficult for Dewey to show what a hundred and seventy pounds of dynamite and speed can do, but this Lewis Firpo of the ring always manages to cinch a seat on the training table with an occasional Sunday workout. Each Spring Dewey can be seen showing up two hundred pound visitors in the shot put, until Johnston, Navy five points have blended into one. But he is in his own element when he takes to the water. "Johnston, step up and swim a width. Now watch carefully, everybody." And the whole room is proud of the "ah's" and "oh's" he receives as he churns up the water.

Few people have seen the Academy in its many phases as has Dewey — and fewer still have left it with more genuine friends. "Hey, Collie, have you seen my slipstick? No, it's not in the wastebasket. How about your laundry bag?"

Track 4, 3, 2, 1. Sub Squad 4, 3, 2. Boxing 3, 1. 2 P.O.

Loss

Dewey was lost when USS Reuben James (DD 245) sunk by a torpedo attack from German submarine U-552 near Iceland on October 31, 1941.

Obituary

From Find A Grave:

11/1/1941- The Daily Oklahoman
Lieut. Dewey G. Johnston, 31 year old son of Mr & Mrs Albert Johnston, Amber, Grady County, who was listed among the officers of the torpedoed destroyer Reuben James, still missing Friday night, had been on the Reuben James more than 3 years, his mother said. He had been in Iceland in September and October. The last letter the Johnstons received, however, was postmarked Portland, Maine. Johnston, listed by the navy department as one of the seven officers on the ship, was a native of Newcastle.
He attended high school in Amber and was appointed to the naval academy in Annapolis in 1929, being graduated in 1934. Before his service on the Reuben James, he had been assigned to the cruiser Chicago and the battleship Arkansas. He also attended the U.S. Naval finance and supply school in Philadelphia before joining the staff of the destroyer.

Dewey was survived by his parents, Albert and Mary.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.