Kaare Allan Johnson
Posted by: Claire Johnson Giblin
In honor of Kaare Allan Johnson, who arrived safely home before Christmas in 1944, and who died on Noveber 30, 2020.
In the evening of December 19, 1945, my father, Kaare Allan Johnson, returned home to relieved parents. They stayed up all night talking and listening to his war stories - the ones he could tell, anyway.
Days earlier, he'd arrived in New York Harbor on a troop ship, only a couple of miles from where my father had grown up on Staten Island. My father was home! He was so excited, running around the ship, telling anyone who would listen that "I live right over that hill!" His fellow soldiers, though, were more interested in Lady Liberty.
The city, relatively dark through the war years, was lit - and so was the Statue of Liberty. Though Dad had grown up with her, for many men, this was their first meeting - and they'd been fighting for her all these years. The cheers went up when she came into view - and then the personal conversations started. They were yelling for her, cheering for her, murmuring to her. "It's so good to see you." "Look what we did for you!" "And we'll do it again if we have to!"
Home for Christmas.