Erwin "Lefty" Johnson and the D-Day Landings

Erwin "Lefty" Johnson in England, 1944. (Courtesy of Erwin Johnson)

Erwin “Lefty” Johnson
Adapted by Levi Magnuson from the exhibit "Doing Our Part: Clay County in WWII"

June 6, 1944 saw the beginning of the end of Nazi occupation in Europe. The United States and several allied nations lead an invasion in Northern France under the codename Operation Overlord. The D-Day landings were the important first step that led to the ultimate victory of the allies over the axis powers. Erwin “Lefty” Johnson was one man who helped make this victory possible.  

Erwin Johnson, born and raised in Hawley, joined the army so he could afford to study engineering at the University of Minnesota in November 1941.  A month later the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the United States joined World War Two. For the rest of the war, “Lefty” Johnson found himself at the forefront of some of most consequential moments of the war. 
  
As the platoon leader for the 531st Engineer Shore Regiment, Johnson’s specialty was invading enemy-occupied beaches.  He and the other combat engineers were tasked with clearing minefields, building roads, and fixing or destroying bridges, all while under enemy fire.  “It was all part of the mission of being an engineer,” he said in a 2011 interview.  “When you’ve got somebody that’s working on a job, and your part of that job and the mortars come in and there’s some shrapnel and some people getting cut up; that’s just part of a day’s work.”

Johnson stormed the beaches of northern Africa at Algiers in August 1942.  He landed in Sicily in July of 1943 and Salerno, Italy, three months later.  Because he had so much experience invading beaches, he was picked to help plan the most important beach landing of the war: the invasion of Nazi-occupied France on D-Day.  He was given the security clearance called “Bigot,” a level above Top Secret that meant he was one of the very few people who knew the exact beaches where we would land.  Johnson landed at Utah Beach on D-Day. 

Utah Beach was one of the five beaches as part of the initial assault on the Normandy coast. Johnson’s unit helped to clear beach obstacles and build causeways to make it easier to bring equipment ashore. By the days end and despite strong currents moving the landings off course, allied forces managed to secure the beach head by the days end. By the end of September 1944 all of France had been liberated and the push to Berlin from the West began. 

Johnson built roads, camps, and bridges through France and Germany until the war ended. He returned to Hawley after the war and used his engineering expertise on several projects, including the Hawley Rodeo Grounds, the softball complex, and the golf course.  Through the 1970s, he became very involved in Robert Asp’s Hjemkomst Viking Ship project. Johnson’s leadership solved the problem of getting the 16-ton Viking ship out of a potato warehouse and onto a truck bound for Lake Superior. Erwin "Lefty" Johnson passed away at the age of 95 on June 23, 2015.   

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