Oceanside veteran Alexander Johnson had just graduated from Sumner High School in St. Louis, Mo., when he was drafted into the Army Air Corps during World War II. He headed to Guam in 1944 and was in combat for nearly two years there and in Saipan. He served as a gunner on an M16 half-track armored tank and was a refrigeration mechanic. Johnson worked with his African American peers to build an airstrip on Guam for P-51 bombers as part of the 1895th Engineering Aviation Division.

WWII Army Air Corps veteran Alexander Johnson serving in Guam in 1944.

One of the things he’ll never forget is when he ended up alone in the jungle in Guam and came to a place where Japanese soldiers had camped. “The jungle closed in on me, it engulfed me,” Johnson said. But his fellow service members came looking for him and he got out before being discovered.

Johnson was given responsibility for maintaining the weapons for the company. He was the company’s weapons non-commissioned officer. That included storing all weapons in his tent when not in combat.

Johnson’s leadership roles grew over the years. He went on to be a trailblazer, working to break down barriers that divide people and advancing the rights of African Americans. Johnson served as one of the first African American vice presidents of a bank in the early 1980s. Johnson turned 100 in October and shared his story.

One of his first jobs as a kid was sweeping a church and dusting the pews. Johnson’s father was a Presbyterian minister in St. Louis. His mother had attended Tuskegee University and graduated from Alabama A&M and worked for the WPA war effort during WWII. She had been a teacher before he was born, the eldest boy in his family, which included four siblings.

After the war, Johnson worked at a number of jobs, from selling insurance to operating a street car in St. Louis. He attended college at the same time. He earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration and a master’s degree in management from California Pacific University.

He started his 30-year government career in the early 1950s working as a plant operator at the St. Louis VA Medical Center-Jefferson Barracks, where he was voted union president. In the 1960s, he joined the Federal Aviation Administration, where he was promoted to the Civil Rights Staff in Kansas City, Mo. In 1974, he moved to Phoenix, Ariz., where he served as the supervisor of investigations at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Throughout his career, Johnson was recognized for fostering mutual respect and equal rights for people.

“I saw so many things my father did to help people and that inspired me. One thing he did was fight segregation and I followed through,” Johnson said. “I was just trying to make things better for people.”

As Johnson was preparing to retire, he was recruited by the Arizona Bank to serve as an affirmative action officer and vice president of employee relations. When the bank was acquired by Security Pacific Bank in the mid-1980s, Johnson was promoted to vice president of minority and community relations, a position he held until he retired in 1990.

One of his proudest moments was when he walked into his bank with his mother and she looked up and saw his framed photo as vice president. Johnson’s grandparents had been slaves, he said.

“The remarkable thing about Alex is that he sees and treats everyone he meets with equal respect and dignity,” said longtime friend Steve Yoakem, a fellow member of Oceanside First Presbyterian Church, where Johnson serves as an elder. “I can only imagine that those 200 people who attended his 100th birthday party were only a smattering of the lives he has touched in a positive way over his lifetime. What a lasting example he has given to all of us,” Yoakem said.

World War II Army Air Corps veteran Alexander Johnson marks his 100th birthday.

“What stands out most about Alex is he doesn’t just tell people about Jesus, he shows them. His kindness, patience, and generosity speak volumes about his relationship with Christ. People around him—whether they’re friends, family, or strangers—see the Gospel in action just by observing how he lives,” said Rev. Mike Killeen, lead pastor at Oceanside First Presbyterian Church.

Johnson moved to Ocean Hills Country Club in Oceanside in 2013 to be closer to his son and daughter-in-law. His wife of 57 years, Mitzie, had passed away in 2005. He moved to the Ocean Hills Senior Living Community in 2017, where he served as the residents council president in 2018 and continues to serve as its treasurer. He has been involved in a number of groups, including one at Ocean Hills Country Club that makes wooden toy cars for military kids as part of the holiday Toys for Tots program.

During his 40 years in Phoenix, Johnson served on 35 boards and organizations. He served six years on the Phoenix Aviation Advisory Board and was elected its chairman for a year. He was on the board of the United Negro College Fund and served as the regional chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP.

Johnson said that one of the best things that happened to him was going on the Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. in 2018. The volunteer-led trip sponsored by the nonprofit Honor Flight San Diego brings veterans to see the national monuments honoring veterans and celebrates their service.

“Alex inspires me in many ways — his resilience moving forward despite obstacles, his kindness and most of all his willingness to listen to people with different viewpoints. We could all learn from him,” said Lisa Gary, who with her husband Bret are volunteer guardians for Honor Flight San Diego.

There is a marker honoring Johnson’s World War II service on Inspiration Hill at Ocean Hills Country Club.

‘I never dreamed of doing that and being honored like that and being thanked for my service,” said Johnson, who said he was the only African American on that flight of about 80 veterans.

“When you come to a point in your life when you’re treated like everybody else it’s darn nice,” Johnson said. “When I was young there was segregation all around. We had to go to Negro theaters, sit in the back of the bus when going to the South and eat at restaurants in our own neighborhood.”

“To see the world change and to have seen a Black president makes me feel so proud of this nation,” Johnson said.