29 Facts About Dwight Johns

Brigadier General Dwight Frederick Johns was an American soldier and general in the first half of the 20th century.

Dwight Johns is best known for his service in the South West Pacific Area during World War II, where he headed the Advance Base and the Combined Operations Service Command during the Kokoda Track campaign and the Battle of Buna-Gona.

Dwight Johns later commanded the Advance Base at Lae and Finschhafen, and the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir.

Dwight Frederick Johns was born in Rockford, Illinois on 16 May 1894.

Dwight Johns entered the United States Military Academy at West Point as an appointee from Illinois in 1912 and graduated sixth in the class of 1916.

Dwight Johns was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers in June 1916.

Dwight Johns served with the Pancho Villa Expedition from November 1916 to February 1917, when the 8th Engineers returned to El Paso, Texas.

Dwight Johns was promoted to captain in May 1917 and major in May 1918.

Dwight Johns commanded the 8th Engineers from April to August 1918.

Dwight Johns then became Assistant District Engineer of the Detroit River and Harbour District.

Dwight Johns returned to the United States in 1927 to take up an appointment in the Office of the Chief of Engineers.

Dwight Johns attended the US Army War College from 1937 to 1938, then became at instructor at the Command and General Staff College.

In 1940 Dwight Johns became commanding officer of the 21st Engineers.

Dwight Johns reached Australia on 28 February 1942 and became Chief Engineer, United States Army Forces in Australia, with the rank of brigadier general.

Dwight Johns, who was in an earlier class at West Point than Casey, remained Chief of Engineers, USAFIA until 25 May 1942, when he became Chief of Staff of US Army Services of Supply.

Dwight Johns was designated commander of both COSC and the Advance Base, New Guinea on 8 October 1942.

Dwight Johns was given an Australian deputy, Brigadier Victor Secombe, a Royal Australian Engineers officer.

All Australian and American logistical units were placed under COSC but Dwight Johns chose to exercise command of the Australian units through Secombe.

Dwight Johns impressed Australian officers with his sensitive handling of inter-Allied issues, his co-operative nature, and his ability to get the job done.

The project would double the capacity of the port of Port Moresby, but to build it Dwight Johns had to divert the African-American 96th Engineers from work on the airfields around Port Moresby, raising fears from airmen like Brigadier General Ennis Whitehead that the airfields would not be ready for all-weather operations by the time that the rainy season arrived.

Dwight Johns relinquished his roles in Papua and resumed his former post at USASOS in March 1943, being replaced by Brigadier General Hanford MacNider.

In 1944, Dwight Johns became commandant of the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir.

Dwight Johns reformed the curriculum, but by this time it was too late for the changes to have much effect in the overseas theaters of operations.

Dwight Johns was Assistant Chief of Engineers for Military Operations from June 1945 to March 1947.

Dwight Johns reverted to his permanent rank of colonel in March 1946.

In June 1947 Dwight Johns became commander of the Pacific Engineer Division, based in San Francisco, responsible for the southern half of the Pacific coast.

Dwight Johns retired from the army as a brigadier general on 31 December 1949.

In retirement, Dwight Johns was awarded the Gold Medal from the Society of American Military Engineers in 1950, and served as its president in 1953.

Dwight Johns maintained the wartime friendships he had made, and with his wife Laura he entertained Australian general Sir Edmund Herring in their home in Piedmont, California in 1967.