Lamarr Lee Johns

Corporal
C TRP, 1ST SQDN, 4TH CAVALRY, 1 INF DIV
Army of the United States
06 July 1948 - 30 March 1969
Tampa, Florida
Panel 28W Line 092

1 INF DIV 4TH CAV RGT
Armor

Purple Heart, National Defense, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Campaign

The database page for Lamarr Lee Johns

30 May 2001

REMEMBERED

Lamarr's Story

The story I want to tell you is true. The reason I know is that it happened to me...

I want you to picture with me, if you will, a little boy kneeling beside a bed in prayer. "Dear God, why is my mommy always calling me by someone else's name? You see... My name is Kevin, but she's always calling me Lamarr."

Ever since I can remember, she'd sometimes look at me in a certain way, not that I did anything wrong or anything like that, but at times, she would look at me in a loving way, speak out his name, and would softly start to cry. She has a picture on top of the piano of someone with a funny looking hat on that I didn't even know. I asked about the picture one time, but my mom just turned away and said someday, when I got older, she would tell me.

Just after I turned seven, she took the picture off of the piano, sat down and sat me on her lap. Then she slowly started to tell me the story. "You see, son, this is picture of a very special person", and she started to cry. Fighting to hold back the tears, she went on. "When you were a very little boy, he went off to fight in a foreign country. Only about three weeks passed, and on Easter Sunday, we received word that he would be coming back home, but that this time he would be living with God. Yes, son, he had been killed. But as days went by, and you grew older, at times, some of the things you would do or just the way you would make a face, reminded me so very much of him and some of the things that he did as a little boy. You see, son, you might say that you're the image of him and that's why I often called you by his name. It was as if there was still a part of him alive and living in you. Son, I could never gain enough courage to sit down and tell you the whole story, but now it's time you knew the story and the secrets of your older brother... Lamarr."

- Ray Smith -

I am very eager to hear from anyone who knew Lamarr in Vietnam or at least could just tell me what unit he was in. Thanks.

Kevin Johns
imkevjohns@msn.com

A Note from The Virtual Wall

On 30 March 1969 the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry engaged a North Vietnamese Army force in the Michelin Rubber Plantation about 7 miles northeast of Dau Tieng. Contact was broken after two hours of fighting which left 38 NVA troops and 11 US soldiers dead:
  • A Troop:
  • B Troop:
    • SSG Jerry A. Garrick, Trout Creek, MI
    • SGT Raymond Brown, Chicago, IL
    • SGT Benito Diaz, Saginaw, MI
    • SGT Jerry T. Driggers, Summerville, SC
    • SGT Russell L. Johnson, Dixie, GA
    • SGT Paul B. West, Ville Platte, LA
    • CPL Willie J. Siegler, Cleveland, OH

  • C Troop:
    • CPL Lamarr L. Johns, Tampa, FL
    • CPL Donald L. Nixon, Pine Lawn, MO
    • CPL Melton E. Smith, Grifton, NC


The point-of-contact for this memorial is
his children,
Lamarr Lee Johns II and Kimberly Kay Johns
imkevjohns@msn.com



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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 30 Mar 2001
Last updated 11/13/2010