Gordon Grant Johnson was born on January 21, 1921, and killed on February 11, 1942. He is buried in the North Bend Cemetery. He appeared on the 1930 census at 132 Susquehanna Avenue, Clinton County, South Renovo, PA. His name popped up again on the 1940 census in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. He was stationed as a soldier in Borinquen Field in Puerto Rico. Gordon was a photographer and photographed bombing missions. A Renovo native, Gordon was a Sergeant who was killed in a multi-motored plane crash at Bradley Field US Army Base, Windsor Locks, Conn. Five other men were killed alongside Gordon.

He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Johnson of South Renovo. He entered the service approximately four years prior to his death, volunteering while he was a junior in high school. He was home on leave January 4, 1942, for a few hours and then was transferred to the base in Conn. A little over a month later, he died in a plane crash. That was the last time his family saw him alive.

Impressive military services were held, first at the home of his parents, followed by a service at the First United Methodist Church in Renovo. Burial was in the North Bend Cemetery with the American Legion Service, followed by a volley of the firing squad and taps played by buglers Jack Emerick and Robert O’Connor, one echoing the other. The honorary pallbearers were Francis Conti, Jerome Perry, William Reardon, Eugene Winkleblech and Thomas Perry. The active pallbearers were Dean Patterson, Harry Kane, Henry Staib, Terrence O’Laughlin, James Winkleblech and Robert Larson, many of whom served in various branches of the military during WWII from Renovo.