Alvin A. Johnson was born on October 4, 1919 in Fairmount City, Clarion County, Pennsylvania. He served in the 378th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group as a First Lieutenant during World War II. On November 19, 1944, the 378th later strafed six trains with 180 cars on the lines running from Saarbriicken to Neunkirchen, Germany, wrecking virtually all the rolling stock they spotted and finishing the mission by strafing and destroying 14 trucks and a gun position. Sadly, the low-level nature of the squadron's war caught up with another pilot when, near Oberstein, Lt. Alvin Johnson struck a high-tension power pole, ripping 3 feet off his left wing. Johnson's P-47D-28 flipped on its back, flew for a few seconds, then hit the ground and exploded. "The engine tore loose from the plane and rolled about 100 yards," reported Lt. Duncan Morton. "There wasn't a large piece of the plane left." 1Lt. Johnson is now buried in the Luxembourg American Cemetery, Luxembourg.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov, Thunderbolts Triumphant, The 362nd Fighter Group vs Germany's Wehrmacht