Remembering CPT LeGrand King “Legs” Johnson

Fox Company’s Morning Report of October 3, 1944, mentions that as of September 19, Captain LeGrand King “Legs” Johnson was released from his command of Fox Company. That decision had to do with the terrible wounds he had sustained at the Battle of Best. For that reason, Legs Johnson would not fight alongside his troopers throughout the rest of the WWII campaign and also while they were on the Island, the Netherlands. 

Featured image: Captain LeGrand King “Legs” Johnson (at the left) with LT Nick Schiltz (Courtesy of Mark Bando). 

At the marshalling area

Legs Johnson had led his troopers into their first WWII battle while jumping into Normandy on June 6, 1944. At Greenham Common Airfield, their marshalling area, he told his men: “There are two orders I want you to remember. I want all of you to stand up and hook up before we hit the French coast. In case the plane is hit, you have a better chance to leave it. If you happen to be hit by ground fire, I want you to stand on your feet and die like a man. The second order is to take no prisoners for the first 24 hours, or until the beach forces make contact with us. When these units arrive,” he continued, “we can hand the Germans over to them. There is no way we can handle prisoners and accomplish our mission at the same time. Good Luck!”

CPT Johnson’s battle experience

At the start of the Normandy campaign, Legs Johnson was a lieutenant. When he returned to England in July 1944, he was promoted to captain and had earned a Silver Star Medal because of his courageous leadership during the Battle for Carentan. After more than a month of arduous battles with the Germans in Normandy, he left France without a single scratch. CPT Johnson was not that fortunate in the Netherlands. His participation at the Battle of Best almost cost him his life.

CPT Johnson recalled when he got wounded.

“I was running together with my men, forward-leaning over, when I was hit in the shoulder, probably by German machine gun fire. That bullet came out at my backside, but it knocked me down. They brought me to the aid station, and I was put back in the rear of it as I was considered one of the lighter wounded, to the extent that I wasn’t going to die.” 

While CPT Johnson was put on a stretcher at the front of a jeep, he was hit by German machine gun fire in the head. After being transported to a medical facility, Legs was briefly examined and since he was unconscious and his brains were exposed, he was relegated to the “dead pile” of troopers who were wounded so seriously that doctors had to make the expedient decision on who had the best chance of survival.

His miraculous survival

Later that day, SGT Charles Dohun of Fox Company, who was CPT Legs Johnson’s runner, managed to go to the hospital to check how his commander was doing. He discovered Johnson among the other bodies and noticed he had a heartbeat and was still breathing. Dohun carried Johnson inside the hospital, looking for help. After a surgeon twice refused to have a look at his commander, Dohun pointed a souvenir German Luger pistol at him and threatened to shoot the surgeon. Because of Dohun’s threat, the surgeon performed the operation which was successful. SGT Dohun’s actions meant that Captain LeGrand King “Legs” Johnson would survive the war.

This is a short story about the operations of Fox Company’s paratroopers in the Netherlands, as described in the book: From the Frying Pan to Mittersill, Fox Company, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (1942 – 1945). If you are interested in learning more about this courageous Fox Company paratrooper, order your copy now!  

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