Captain Francis David Johnson was killed in action near Bois de la Grande Montagne, as part of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, just two days before the war ended on November 9, 1918. At 6am that morning Captain Johnson headed for hill 378, called Borne de Cornouiller by the French. He was heroically killed as he led his men as they attempted to locate and capture nests of concealed machine guns and snipers. Francis is buried at Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery. (bit.ly/uw_johnson)
After failing to pass the physical examination while at attending officers training camp at the Presidio in the summer of 1917, Francis enlisted as a private in the Engineers. He was later re-examined and commissioned Second Lieutenant. He was promoted to First Lieutenant, while serving with the 316th Infantry, in France. Francis was posthumously promoted to Captain. “‘Alaska’ Johnson, as he was called by his friends, was one of the best loved officers in the regiment.” (History of the 316th Regiment of Infantry in the World War, 1918.)
Born in Wahoo Nebraska, Francis was the only child of Judge Charles Sumner Johnson and his wife, Mary Davis. Francis spent several years of his early childhood in Alaska, where his father was the U.S. District Attorney and later Federal Judge for the District of Alaska with headquarters at Sitka. After his father died in 1906, Francis and his mother settled in Zillah, Washington.