Johnson, William E. (William Eugene), 1862-1945

Leader in the Anit-Saloon; known as "Pussyfoot Johnson" for his stealthy enforcement of prohibition laws for the Indian Service of Oklahoma.

William Johnson, born in 1922, was an African American from Philadelphia. From 1942 to 1945 he served in the army as Private first class, maintaining communications as a lineman for telephone and telegraph. In April, 1953, he was appointed Corporal in the U.S. Army. By December, 1954, he was on board the USNS General John Pope, sailing across the 180th meridian. One further document (and photograph), August, 1955, is a certificate of graduation from the I US Corps Non-Commissioned Officers Academy, presented at Jecelin, Korea. The Korean War was the first time the Army entered a war as an integrated force, with black and white soldiers fighting side-by-side in the same units. After three years of conflict, primarily around the 38th parallel, a cease-fire was established in July 1953.

USS General John Pope (AP-110) was a troop transport that served with the United States Navy in World War II. After the war she was transferred to the Army and redesignated USAT General John Pope. She later served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars as a civilian-manned Military Sea Transportation Service vessel, as USNS General John Pope (T-AP-110).