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Thomas Gibbs Johnson  1895 - 1961 Thomas
Gibbs Johnson, born in Lynchburg, Virginia, was drafted there in 1918
and sent to France where he served in the same company with famed
Corporal Alvin C. York
of Tennessee, the only two Southerners in the company.  On the morning of October 8, 1918, seventeen members of the company were ordered to penetrate the enemy lines in the Argonne Forest in order to take out several nests of German machine guns. Amidst fierce fighting, these Americans managed to get behind the Germans. Six of the Americans were killed and three others were badly wounded, leaving only eight of the original seventeen soldiers able to continue the mission. Corporal York was the highest ranking of the eight still standing. In the battle the Germans lost at least 25 men and the remaining 132 surrendered and were marched out of the forest by Corporal York and the seven unwounded privates., including Private Thomas Gibbs Johnson. Corporal York was the focus of interviews about the events of that day and subsequently the story was later reported that Corporal York was responsible for killing and capturing the Germans single-handedly. Descendants of the other sixteen soldiers involved in the mission formed a group in order to to bring recognition to their ancestors which had been denied them for nearly a century. The descendants created a well-organized, well-documented website in 2008, "The Other 16" The profile of Johnson is listed under the navigation tab labeled "The Other 16". An article about him from The News & Advance, dated 5 July 2008, is listed under the "Media" tab.  Thomas
G. Johnson's older brother, John Gray Johnson, arrived in Denison in
1925 before Thomas and founded Barrow - Johnson & Company,
Inc. at 212-216 North Houston Avenue. Mr. A.C. Barrow had already
gone bankrupt in the overalls business twice in the early 1920s in
Lynchburg, Virginia. According to the 1927 Denison City Directory
J.G. Johson was renting a room at 427 W. Gandy Street in the home of Miss
Rachel Bredelle "Delle" Leeper (1867 - 1946).  McKinney Courier-Gazette Tuesday, November 25, 1935 pg 4 New Overall Plant Soon For Denison Denison, Texas, Nov. 25 - A contract was closed here Thursday between the Denison Crystal Ice Company, owner of a large brick building here, and A. C. Barrow & Co., of Lynchburg, Va., whereby the latter company will take a long-term lease on the building, in which they will open an overall factory. The building will undergo heavy reparis and extensions in order to accomodate the new factory. Construction work has begun with a contract to have the building ready by Jan. 1. The company holds contracts for an initial production of 2,000 pairs of overalls a day from the Denison branch, which will begin operation on March 1. By 1929, younger brother Thomas, mother Rebecca along with three children of a deceased sister joined John Gray Johnson in Denison and in the business. According to the 1930 Denison census, the Johnson family were renting the house at 931 W. Woodard St. This house had been built in 1912 by Constantine "Mack" and Anna "Annie" Christman, owners of the Home Steam Bakery. After Annie's death, J.G. Johnson moved back to his old rented room with Miss Leeper. Annie's children, Lewis H. Christman and Helen Lessly sold the house at 932 W. Woodard St. in 1943 to Haber M. and wife, Nondes Scott for $7,250.00. (Grayson County Deed Records 451/95) Thomas was listed as a shipping clerk in the Denison overall factory along with the oldest nephew, William Sarchell "Bill" Dodd, Jr. Bill had graduated from Denison High School in 1929 where he was actively involved in sports - football, baseball and track. Barely a month after the April 13th date of the 1930 census, the Cowden Manufacturing Company of Kansas City announced on May 14, 1930 that it had bought the Barrow plant in Denison. Corsicana Daily Sun Wednesday May 14, 1930 pg 10 Two Plants Added To Cowden Company KANSAS CITY, Mary 14 - (AP) - Purchase of factories at St. Paul, Minn., and Denison, Texas, by the Cowden Manufacturing Company here has been announced. The company, which manufactures work clothing, signed contracts to take over the plants of the A. C. Barrow Corporation in the two cities. The newly acquired plants will add 1 1-2 million dollars to the Cowden business annually, for a total of 6 1+2 million dollards. After their mother, Rebecca Francis Gibbs Johnson, died on September 6, 1931 as a result of a fracture hip just a few days short of her 74th birthday, John Gray Johnson sold their home at 931 W. Woodard St. and is listed in the city directory as living back at 427 W. Gandy St. with Miss Rachel Leeper. New stories in The Denison Press reported that John Gray Johnson died in a room of the Reid Hotel in Kansas City on February 3, 1939 at the age of 46, cause of death being a type of chest infection that sometimes accompanied pneumonia. Thomas traveled to Kansas City and brought his brother's body back to Denison on a train for burial in Fairview Cemetery where their mother had been buried 7-1/2 years earlier. The Denison Daily News Tuesday, February 7, 1939 pg 1 Johnson Services Funeral services for J. G. Johnson, a former Denisonian who was found dead last Friday in his hotel room in Kansas City, arried here by rail today, accompained by a brother, Tom Johnson. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday from Short-Murray chapel, followed by interment at Fairview cemetery, Short-Murray directing. Mr. Johnson was former manager of the local overall factory. The Denison Daily News Tuesday, February 8, 1939 pg 1 Joohnson Services Funeral services for J. G. Johnson, a former war beteran of Denison who died last Friday at Kansas City, were held this afternoon at 2 o'clock from Short-Murray chapel with Rev. Harry Lee Virden officiating. Interment was at Fairview cemetery with Short-Murray directing. A flag service was conducted at the grave. Pall bearers were Clare Blackburn, William H. Murphy, Thad Garrison of Sherman, Ralph Hodges, Walker Burch and Ray Brown. After the death of his brother, Thomas apparently lived alone at various addresses in Denison for the remaining 22 years of his life. Warner Brothers tracked Thomas to Denison in 1941 for the purpose of presenting him with a $250 check for the rights to his story. Mount Carmel (PA) Item Saturday, Jan. 11, 1941 pg 2 Hollywood Roundup By Frederick C. Othman United Press Holywood Correspondent Hollywood, Jan. 11 (U.P) - Heroism paid belated each dividends today to a couple of farmers, a dump dweller, a self-professed bum, a truck driver, a waiter, a night watchman and a barber shop porter. They were the men who rode up Broadway in a shower of ticker tape and a crescenfo of cheers as the outstanding heroes of the World War. They made up the detail of Sgt. Alvin C. York, who killed 25 German machine gunners and captured 132 more before they ran out of enemies. Sgy. York, now a Tennessee farmer with thining hair and a thickening middle, received a substantial sum for use of his story in a forthcoming movie. The men who helped in his esploit in the Argonne Forest got $250 each for the use of their names. The big job was finding them. It fell to William Guthrie, white-haired location manager of Warner Brothers' Studio, who traveled 10,000 miles, tracking down the forgotten heroes. Some were dead; some had disappeared. He located only 10. At Roxbury, Conn., he found Percy Beardsley, a bachelor living with his father on a well kept farm,. Beardsley sealed the deal with a swig of apple jack. In Brookline, Mass, was Otis V. Merrithew, city truck driver, living comfortably with his wife and three daughters. Merithew said the $250 would give his eldest daughter at least one year of college, an experience she almost had stopped had stopped dreaming about. In a neighboring Massachusetts town Guthrie turned detective, looking for George Spelvin, which isn't fair to call a hero a drunk and a bum, even though that is what he has become. Guthrie finally located his quarry in a saloon, gave him $10 on account, and arranged with Merrithew to dole out the rest. Holyoke, Mass, home of Joe Konotski, was Guthrie's next stop. Joe was the father of six, a mill worker, and overjoyed with the windfall. In Hamden, Conn., was Bernard Early, waiting on table in a bar. Up three flights of stairs in New York's East Side was Mario Mussi, night watchman in a paper mill. Mussi couldn't understand . Nobody before had paid him money for nothing. In the same part of town was Michael Saccini, barber shop porter, who didn't even want to let Guthrie in. In Philadelphia, Guthrie finally discovered George Wills, living near a city dump, keeping goats, and ekeing out a living salvaging tin foil, bits of brass and old papers from the smoking pile nearby. Wills said he averaged $5 a week and bowed to nobody. Guthrie found Feodor Sok, snug in a Veteran's CCC camp at Buffalo, N.Y., and in Denison, Tex., he located Thomas C. Johnson, living alone in a one-room house. The room was partitioned with cloth. Guthrie said he never once saw the man he came to interview. He said Johnson even signed the release without showing his face. The rest of Guthrie's trip took him to Washington, San Francisco, and way points obtaining similar releases from the officers who commanded Sgt. York's regiment and who also will be named in the film. The Whitewright Sun Thursday, January 16, 1941 pg 3 Unsung Denison War Hero Lives in Quet Obscurity (Denison Herald) Swallowed in the obscurity of a cramped second-hand magazine stand in Denison's 'trade lot' district is a nerve-shaken veteran who had a part in the greatest exploit of heroism of the entire World War. He is Thomas G. Johnson, 46, who was one of ten doughboys with the famed Sergeant Alvin C. York in the Argonne Forest episode that made York, a Tennessee mountaineer, the outstanding hero of the war. DISPATCH TELLS STORY Unknown and unsung here, Mr. Johnson's case was brought to light today when The Herald discovered an Associated Press dispatch from Hollywood announcing that York's ten partners in the Argonne exploit would receive recognition for heroism in a motion picture, "Sergeant York," to be produced soon. It was York, himself, who asked that the picture give his companions in the Argonne the recognition for heroism never accorded them in their army days, according to the Associated Press. NINE OTHER SURVIVORS The other nine survivors of York's squad apparently have dropped into the obscurity that enveloped Mr. Johnson here. Frereted out by The Herald, Mr. Johnson first learned of plans for the picture through the Associated Press dispatch. He recalled however, that a Warner Bros. representative had said something to him about a motion picture some time ago. "I would be willing to go to Hollywood to take part in the picture," he said. NOT EAGER TO TALK Not eager to talk about the Argonne experience 23 years ago, Mr. Johnson was willing to let Sergeant York tell the story of the squad's capturing 132 Germans after York had shot down 25 of the enemy, "York did most of the work with a rifle," the Denisonian recalled, "and the captured an officer and forced the surrender of the rest." Mr. Johnson adamitted with a grimacing nod that the other ten survivors also saw plenty of action. Two sergeants and their squads started on the assignment of putting an entire machine-gun battalion out of action with York and the ten living to see the greatest feat of the war finally achieved. CAME FROM OLD VIRGINIA Born and reared at Lynchburg, Va., Mr. Johnson enlisted there as a private in Company G of the 328th Infantry, 82md Division, and sailed for France in August of 1918 after training at Camp Lee, Virginia. Mr. Johnson returned to the United States in June of 1919 and came to Denison 12 years ago from Lynchburg. A shoe factory employe by early experience, he has been engaged in various odd jobs here and has been operating the second-hand magazine stand at 214 1/2 West Woodard for several months. Admitting that the war "didn't help any of our nerves,"Mr. Johnson retained his stoic calm upon learning today that the action long overdue apparently is coming to him at last. He is unmarried. The Vernon Daily Record Tuesday, September 26, 1961 pg 1 Simple Graveside Rites Held for War Veteran DENISON (AP) - Simple graveside rites, in keeping with the obscurity the eclipsed his fame as a fighting buddy of Sgt. Alvin York, were held for Thomas G. Johnson, 66, today. Without relatives and virtually unknown, Johnson died in a rest home here Saturday. He spent most of his later years in and out of veterans' hospitals. Only once during the years that followed 1918 did Johnson find himself a protesting recipient of public attention. That was in 1941 when the Denison Herald found him operating a shabby second-hand magazine stand on a community trade lot. Johnson had been in Denison 12 years at that time. Fellow veterans, who were his principal friends, knew nothing of his storybook war record. The clue came to the Herald in an Associated Press story from Hollywood, where the movie industry was preparing to film the Sgt. York story, destined to become one of the cinema's war epics. The AP story telling of plans for the movie listed the 10 men who survived with Sgt. York the furious action of silencing an entire German machinegun battilion. The survivors included Johnson. The disabled veteran would say little about the event. "York did most of the work with a rifle, capturing an officer and forcing the rest to surrender," he said. It wasn't that easy, however. York shot down 25 Germans in capturing 132. Johnson received some payment from Warner Bros. in connection with the movie. He dropped back into his private world. Johnson didn't make the headlines again until his death - and then not until an initial story had dismissed his passing as a routine item in the obituary column.  Denison Herald Wednesday, September 27, 1961  Military Veterans Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |