Kenneth L. Johnson was born on June 8, 1920. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a First Lieutenant in Company F, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. On November 19, 1944, 1LT Johnson’s unit was in action against German forces during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. When an early morning German counterattack of battalion strength pushed within 50 yards of his platoon's defensive positions, 1LT Johnson crawled over exposed terrain to direct the fire of his men. Shifting his troops to strengthen the hardest hit sectors, 1LT Johnson, under severe automatic weapons and small arms fire that covered the entire platoon area, succeeded in holding off the numerically-superior force for an hour and a half. Subsequently, a German breakthrough threatened to engulf both his platoon and Company F from the flank and rear. 1LT Johnson then led a reserve force that, in a fierce bayonet charge followed by hand-to-hand fighting, succeeded in wiping out an entire German platoon. In a desperate attempt to reestablish contact with an adjoining platoon, 1LT Johnson crossed 75 yards of fire-swept terrain, manned an abandoned machine gun and was inflicting heavy casualties on the German ranks when he was mortally wounded by rifle fire. 1LT Johnson's outstanding leadership so inspired his men that a battalion of German infantrymen was destroyed. 1LT Johnson’s selfless, courageous actions and extraordinary heroism that day earned him, at the cost of his life, the U.S. Army's second highest award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross.
Source of information: http://www.militaryhallofhonor.com/honoree-record.php?id=314253