Met a user of 1941 in combat

[Joseph Scott 0]

At a Pasadena, Tx, "Real Gun Show", I had three Johnsons on table for sale and an older gentleman using a walker said he had tried using one on Guadualcanal. He needed a rifle and picked a Johnson from a dead Marine. Fired it several times but was unfamilar with it so he threw it down and picked up a BAR which he knew about. He was US army soldier. First time I have met anyone who actually used one in combat. He left before I could get his name but I hope to see him next show. Does anyone know how to get the names of paramarines who used them?

[webmaster 0]

Try Ken Haney in Jackson, TN. He is the 'paramarine' expert with a couple of books on the subject. I think he has the details of which specific units had them.

I have his email as ken.haney@jaxnet.net but that mey be an old one.

[Bruce Canfield 0]

Joe,

While we weren't there and don't know certain, some WWII vets today vividly remeber things that never happened. This is not to say these guys are lying as most of them genuinely believe what they're saying. However, 65 year old memories can be very fragile. I have interviewed scores of WWII vets and value their service to our country a great deal. However, I can cite you a number of instances where the recollections were clearly not accurate. Two recent examples were the WWII vet who swears his M1 Garand rifle was made by Singer Sewing Machine Company (and was so marked) and the vet who is certain his M1903 rifle was chambered for the .30-30 cartridge and absolutely NOT for the standard .30-06. I could go on but you get the idea.

Is it possible that the gentleman could have "picked up" one of the 23 Johnson rifles used on Guadacanal? Sure. Is is factual that he did so? Who knows? By the way, I may be wrong, but I believe the parachute units (the only units with the handful of Johnsons) were withdrawn prior to the Army "relieving" the Marines on the island.

[Black Tom 0]

During the summers of 1957 & '58 I worked as a smokejumper for the USFS in Cave Junction, Oregon. In June 2002 (if memory serves me) there was a reunion of C.J. jumpers at the old, and now closed, base in Cave Junction. I attended that reunion and while there I struck up a conversation with an older gentlemen who had been a paramarine and who had fought on Guadacanal and Iwo Jima. I asked him if he was familiar with the JSAR and his eyes lit up and, if I recall correctly, he said that he had carried one for a period of time on Guadacanal.

He had worked as a smokejumper at C.J. for a summer or two following the war.

At that time he was sharp as a tack and had some very definite opinions on the decision of President Truman to use the atomic bomb against Japan.

His name is Richard Courson, he was a retired Oregon Superior court judge and lived in Pendleton, Oregon

I have his address & phone number if I can find it.

At the time , my wife and I owned a home in Baker City, OR and there was local businessman who had a pretty good collection of WW2 memorabilla including a coffee can full of sand from Iwo Jima which had been brought back by a Marine who had fought on Iwo. The Marine had passed away and his widow had given the sand to the businessman. I conned the guy out of a small quantity of the sand and sent 10 small vials of it to Courson who, in turn, gave them to some of his paramarine friends at a convention that was held later that year in San Diego.

I haven't had any contact with Judge Courson in a number of years and I don't know if he is still with us. During one phone call to his home his wife mentioned that he was suffering from prostate cancer, so he may have passed away.

Bruce, if you have any interest in contacting him I'm sure I can get his address and phone number through the Nat'l Smokejumper Assoc.

Incidentally, the name I use on this site (Black Tom) was a nick name bestowed upon me by Gid Newton, another C.J. jumper who was subsequently killed in Cambodia while working for Air America. My real name is Don Thomas and my email address is: thomasdandp@hotmail.com

B.T.

[Black Tom 0]

Can anyone provide Bruce Canfield's e-mail address and/or telephone number?

I found the address & phone number for the former paramarine who I mentioned in my previous post.

He is still alive and Canfield may want to interview him.

Thanks, B.T.

[ArtR 0]

You should be able to contact Bruce directly through the link on this Forum, without divulging his email or phone number

Just go to the member section, click on his name and then click on "Send a message"

[Black Tom 0]

Art: Thanks for the info.

I sent a mesg. to Canfield.

B.T.

[leatherneck-1975 0]

I was researching something and happened to come across this reference to me, so I've joined so I can reply...the Johnson Rifles were indeed used in combat by Marine Paratroopers in World War II - first by the 1st Parachute Battalion at Gavutu and Guadalcanal during Aug-Sept 1942. Likewise by the 2nd Parachute Battalion on its Choiseul Raid in 1943 and to some degree by members of the 1st Para Bn on Bougainville in 1943; one photo which I sell of the Koiari Raid (29 Nov 1943) appears to show a Johnson Rifle...it is hard to see but the configuration of the barrel is quite possibly a Johnson Rifle. The Johnson Light Machine Guns were also used on the Koiari Raid and I have several accounts in one of my books, by Marine Paratroopers who used those weapons. Ken Haney - Jackson, TN