Johnson Beach honors namesake hero May 2
- April 30, 2015
- / Mike Ensley
- / community-dashboard
Swimmers, fishermen, sunbathers, picnickers…
On any given day in the Summer, there are visitors enjoying the sun, sand and water at Johnson Beach in Perdido Key.
Many of those visitors don’t know why the beach bears the name “Johnson,” however.
On Saturday, May 2 at 10 a.m., the Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Gulf Islands National Seashore, will honor the Korean War hero for whom the beach is named - Army Private Rosamond Johnson Jr.
[caption id="attachment_22534" align="alignright" width="247"]
Rosamond Johnson, Jr.[/caption]
On July 26, 1950, Johnson pulled two fellow soldiers to safety in battle after they were injured. He was fatally wounded at 38th Parallel, which separated North and South Korea, when he tried to return for a third fallen comrade.
He was the first African-American soldier from Escambia County to perish in the war.
He was also just 17-years-old.
Raymond Reese is Johnson’s brother. He was six-years-old when Johnson was killed in action and vividly remembers the day his family received the news.
“I was playing in the yard and I remember the Western Union man arriving with a telegram,” Reese said. “My mother read it and the whole family was just devastated.”
Johnson, who enlisted underage at 15, was posthumously presented with the Purple Heart on August 21, 1950.
“There has been talk over the years of getting him the Medal of Honor,” Reese said. “I still hope that happens.”
At the time of Johnson’s death, Pensacola, including its beaches, were racially segregated. In 1950, what is now known as Johnson Beach, was leased from the county by the Sunset Riding Club, Inc. as the bathing, beach and recreational facilities for "colored citizens.”
Following Johnson’s death, the beach was renamed to honor the African-American community’s fallen hero. The lease was cancelled in 1956, but the name Rosamond Johnson Beach remained.
The area became part of Gulf Islands National Seashore May 8, 1973. A permanent monument in his honor was erected at Johnson Beach on June 10, 1996.
The monument reads:
In grateful memory of
Private Rosamond Johnson, Jr.
RA 14 289 828, Infantry
Who died in the service of his country
in the military operations in Korea
on July 26, 1950
He stands in the unspoken line of patriots who have
dared to die that freedom might live, and grow, and
increase its blessings.
Freedom lives, and through it, he lives - in a way that
humbles the undertakings of most men.
He crossed the 38th parallel three times. The first two times, he carried back wounded. The third time, he got killed before he could make it back.
May 18, 1933 - July 26, 1950
Johnson had enlisted for a very specific personal and economic reason.
“He joined to take of his mother,” Reese said. “He was my older brother and I really looked up to him for that.”
After Johnson’s death, the responsibility to help take care of his mother and family fell to Reese and he began working as soon as he was able.
“I started working in sixth grade,” Reese said. “I worked hard all through high school. That’s what I did: work, work, work.”
He was eventually drafted in the early sixties and deployed to Germany.
“I did well in the military,” Reese said. “But when my commission was up, I just wanted to get back home.”
Reese returned to Pensacola and took a job with Westinghouse, where he remained until he retired a few years ago.
On Saturday, he will be there with members of his family, as he is every year for the ceremony, to honor his brother’s life, alongside speakers including R. W. Jenkins, acting Superintendent for the Gulf Islands National Seashore and Rev. Lawrence Powell of C.O.R.E. Ministries, Major U.S. Army retired and president of Civitan Pensacola. The NAVT choir will also perform, and the ceremony will conclude with a motorcycle flag parade by the Patriot Guard Riders and the American Legion Riders.
There will also be one other special guest, according to Reese.
“Our mother will be there,” Reese said. “She is 98-years-old and has dementia, but she is always at the ceremony and aware and smiling with pride.”
Reese is also proud, not only of his brother, but of the community that has continued to remember him.
“It is a good feeling to know that people still honor him,” Reese said. “And it is important that we keep his memory alive so that kids coming up today understand what his death means to history and the community."
Rosamond Johnson, Jr.[/caption]
On July 26, 1950, Johnson pulled two fellow soldiers to safety in battle after they were injured. He was fatally wounded at 38th Parallel, which separated North and South Korea, when he tried to return for a third fallen comrade.
He was the first African-American soldier from Escambia County to perish in the war.
He was also just 17-years-old.
Raymond Reese is Johnson’s brother. He was six-years-old when Johnson was killed in action and vividly remembers the day his family received the news.
“I was playing in the yard and I remember the Western Union man arriving with a telegram,” Reese said. “My mother read it and the whole family was just devastated.”
Johnson, who enlisted underage at 15, was posthumously presented with the Purple Heart on August 21, 1950.
“There has been talk over the years of getting him the Medal of Honor,” Reese said. “I still hope that happens.”
At the time of Johnson’s death, Pensacola, including its beaches, were racially segregated. In 1950, what is now known as Johnson Beach, was leased from the county by the Sunset Riding Club, Inc. as the bathing, beach and recreational facilities for "colored citizens.”
Following Johnson’s death, the beach was renamed to honor the African-American community’s fallen hero. The lease was cancelled in 1956, but the name Rosamond Johnson Beach remained.
The area became part of Gulf Islands National Seashore May 8, 1973. A permanent monument in his honor was erected at Johnson Beach on June 10, 1996.
The monument reads:
In grateful memory of
Private Rosamond Johnson, Jr.
RA 14 289 828, Infantry
Who died in the service of his country
in the military operations in Korea
on July 26, 1950
He stands in the unspoken line of patriots who have
dared to die that freedom might live, and grow, and
increase its blessings.
Freedom lives, and through it, he lives - in a way that
humbles the undertakings of most men.
He crossed the 38th parallel three times. The first two times, he carried back wounded. The third time, he got killed before he could make it back.
May 18, 1933 - July 26, 1950
Johnson had enlisted for a very specific personal and economic reason.
“He joined to take of his mother,” Reese said. “He was my older brother and I really looked up to him for that.”
After Johnson’s death, the responsibility to help take care of his mother and family fell to Reese and he began working as soon as he was able.
“I started working in sixth grade,” Reese said. “I worked hard all through high school. That’s what I did: work, work, work.”
He was eventually drafted in the early sixties and deployed to Germany.
“I did well in the military,” Reese said. “But when my commission was up, I just wanted to get back home.”
Reese returned to Pensacola and took a job with Westinghouse, where he remained until he retired a few years ago.
On Saturday, he will be there with members of his family, as he is every year for the ceremony, to honor his brother’s life, alongside speakers including R. W. Jenkins, acting Superintendent for the Gulf Islands National Seashore and Rev. Lawrence Powell of C.O.R.E. Ministries, Major U.S. Army retired and president of Civitan Pensacola. The NAVT choir will also perform, and the ceremony will conclude with a motorcycle flag parade by the Patriot Guard Riders and the American Legion Riders.
There will also be one other special guest, according to Reese.
“Our mother will be there,” Reese said. “She is 98-years-old and has dementia, but she is always at the ceremony and aware and smiling with pride.”
Reese is also proud, not only of his brother, but of the community that has continued to remember him.
“It is a good feeling to know that people still honor him,” Reese said. “And it is important that we keep his memory alive so that kids coming up today understand what his death means to history and the community."
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