Posted by Elizabeth Lowe of The Burton News June 28, 2007 15:31PM

BURTON -- On Wednesday, Jack West will complete a 63-year quest to remember the five Johnson brothers who fought in World War II.

A bronze plaque at the Burton Veterans Memorial will be unveiled in honor of the five-star flag West remembers hanging in the window of the Johnson family's Burton Township home.

The Independence Day ceremony will honor Roy, Harry, Clayton, Basil and Carl Johnson -- along with parents Verna and Lewis Johnson -- who waited with younger sons Lester and Walter for the boys to return.

"They were my heroes," said West, who grew up with the family in the Atherton School District.

Service flags were common in American homes during WWII. Usually handmade of white material, a blue star was added to represent each family member serving in the military, said Ronda Mrock, president of the Blue Star Mothers of America's Michigan department.

David Roat, post commander of Burton VFW Post 2777, said he knows of no other five-star families in Burton.

The last living WWII veteran of the Johnson brothers, Basil, remembers Dec. 7, 1941, like it was yesterday.

"We came home from church and Dad called me into the bedroom and told me about the Japanese bombing Pearl harbor," said Basil. "He said, 'Son you're lucky you won't have to go,' but I went anyway."

Basil -- better known as Bate -- didn't think twice about enlisting.

"We were patriotic people. We defended our country because we wanted to, it was our duty.

"It's just like with my brothers -- if somebody was picking on me they protected me and I did the same thing for my younger brothers. I never started a fight in my life -- but I never walked away from one."

As the youngest of the five, Bate watched his brothers Roy and Harry, both teenagers at the time, begin leaving in 1942.

Roy became a staff sergeant in the Army. Harry left the next year and became a photographer in the 5th Army Air Force.

Clayton was married and a father of two when he left for the Navy in 1944.
A captain's yeoman, Clayton was aboard the USS Silver Cloud when his wife gave birth to their third child.

Bate left within days of Clayton's departure, having convinced Lewis to sign release forms for his 16-year-old son to enlist in the Navy.

"My dad cried when he signed the papers," said Bate, whose "cradle cruise" enlistment began the day he turned 17. "He didn't want to be responsible for me losing my life if I did."

Carl, a married father of three, was the family's fifth star. He left for the Navy in 1944 to board the Army transport USS McCracken.

Bate fought in seven major battles aboard the USS Yorktown, named for the CV-5 lost in 1942 during the Battle of Midway.

March 18, 1945 is a date Bate can recite by heart.

"We had 350 suicide planes -- kamikaze pilots -- attacking our fleet," Bate said. "We had a magazine where we kept all the ammunition down below and we had a bomb go down in the magazine. I was on a gun mount, so I didn't get hit but we lost 18 men that day."

While seasoned personnel were cautious, Bate was ready for action.

"The 17- and 18-year-olds, we made good sailors and soldiers -- we had no fear," said Bate, now 80.

Bate met up with Roy and Clayton in the South Pacific. In each instance, said Bate, his brother unexpectedly boarded Bate's ship. Bate missed Harry by five minutes after Harry delivered two sailors destined for the Yorktown to a Tokyo dock.

"I just met your brother," one sailor told Bate. "You look like him."

Back home in Burton, younger brother Lester decorated the inside of the family's garage with drawings of airplanes. Verna wrote to each of the five boys daily -- they'd get packs of five or six letters at a time -- and led the family in nighttime prayers for her sons' safety.

If a service member was killed, a gold star covered the blue star on a family's flag.
But the Johnson flag's stars remained blue.

Bate was the last son to return home in June of 1946.

"I had faith in my mother praying," said Bate. "We all came home because of my mother's prayers."

Bate immediately proposed to childhood sweetheart MaryLou Richardson. The two married that same month.

West, now 76 and a Flint resident, has boyhood memories of the five-star flag and later, of the area's veterans monument, originally placed at Atherton and Center roads. "It always stuck in my mind that there should have been some commemoration on the Burton monument," West said.

Most of the Johnson family stayed in the Burton area and went on to become successful businessmen and professionals after WWII, West said.

West's brother, Don, knowing how much the long-time effort means to West, fronted the cost of the bronze plaque as a surprise.

Burton's VFW Post 2777 is contributing $100 toward the plaque.

Bate expects nearly 30 family members at Wednesday's ceremony, mostly children, nieces and nephews of the WWII veterans.

Verna died in 1981. A decade later, the old Johnson home was torn down to make way for Center Road development. The boys often wondered what happened to the service flag, said Walter.

"I'm just proud they're doing this for my mother," said Bate. "I can just picture her, she'd just cry. She'd have really cherished it."

The plaque unveiling ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Burton Veterans Memorial near City Hall, 4303 S. Center Road, Burton.