Portrait of A Veteran
From Ringgold County Veterans Affairs
(NEIL) WALTER JOHNSTON
Corporal (Neil) Walter Johnston was born in California and raised in Ringgold County.
He joined the United States Army Air Corps in June of 1944 and completed basic training at Keesler Field in Mississippi. He then attended pre-flight training at Creighton University in Nebraska and then Air Traffic Controllers School at Langley Field, Virginia.
Corporal Johnston was then shipped to Guam and later Iwo Jima where he was an air traffic controller until his discharge in 1947.
Walter commented that he guided almost ever aircraft in the Army inventory in for a safe landing. He returned to the family farm and has been farming in that location since.
He and wife Irma currently live on the farm at Beaconsfield.
Source: Mount Ayr Record-News, Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa, Thursday, November 26 2015, Page 10
Neil Walter Johnston was born Dec. 12, 1926 to George Wesley and Marjory Guthrie Johnston. He died Mar. 13, 2020 and is buried in Hickory Grove Cemetery, Middle Fork Township, Ringgold County, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
