Rallo Ray Johnson

Rallo Ray Johnson was born April 16, 1926 in Richmond to Joseph Ray and Winona Labelle Larson Johnson. Ray was a veteran of World War II.

History

Ray was raised in Richmond, worked many odd jobs, and attended local schools, where he excelled on the North Cache High School Basketball team.

Ray was drafted for World War II on Aug 22, 1944. He trained at Fort Douglas, Utah in anti-tank weaponry. On Dec 27, 1944, Ray was sent to Germany, where he was assigned to the 612 Tank Destroyer Battalion and joined the middle of the Battle of the Bulge.

"Our Company was in a defensive position. After our arrival, an artillery company was close by and decided to fire on German Pill Boxes. The projectile would bounce off cement boxes and then the German opened up with their own artillery fire. A soldier and I were on watch out over the open field from inside a house and out the window. Artillery shrapnel pierced the window and ceiling and killed the soldier next to me. I saw a 'V' shape directly above my head. I was 6' 6" and realized how close I had come to being hit. I had to use the gun with a nick in the barrel and the sleeping bag of my buddy who was just killed."

In later years, Ray also answers the serious questions, "what is fear?" and "what is death?"

"Fear is guns going off in all different directions. Any kind of shell will bring about death so you pray for daylight in the darkness and you pray for darkness in the daylight, always wondering what is ahead for you. Fear is sitting in an abandoned house, machines guns posted at the windows, waiting for the German army to advance. Fear is hoping no fighting will occur. Maybe this is the time-up for me and my comrades. Who will be the victor? 

"Fear is standing at the window of an abandoned house with another soldier, having just arrived for the first day of your assignment, when the Germans with mortar shells open fire on you and you run for cover. When you return to the window you find your buddy with half of his head gone and when you look at the ceiling you find a “V” shape directly above your head and know how close you came to being hit. Then because you haven’t been issued a uniform yet you are given his and you have to use the gun with a nick in the barrel and the sleeping bag of that same soldier who was just killed while at your side."

"Death is 45,000 American soldiers buried across seas, dog tags in their mouths and wrapped in army blankets. Death is the motionless bodies lying about, the terrible stench smell of the dead. The firing on enemy soldiers and knowing they live no longer after receiving fire from the 76mm or 50 caliber shells. 

"Death is German people running, trying to avoid gunfire between the U.S. Army and the German Army but even when the U.S. forces hold their fire the Germans do not, killing many of their own people. 

"Death is what I saw when I helped liberate a German concentration camp. As the people cheered the U.S. Soldiers we saw corpses and with several thousand still alive but resembling the dead."1

Ray served until the end of the War in Europe on May 6, 1945. He returned to Fort Douglass, where he received a desk job as a tech sergeant with the 6th Army Exchange Division. In April 1945, the 6th Army moved to the Presidio of San Francisco, California. Ray moved with the unit and was discharged in July 1946.

After his service, Ray , along with Dean C. Hall and Roland Guy Hendricks, attended Utah State Agricultural College (USU) on the G.I. Bill. Ray attended to join the basketball team, which he did for the 1946-1950 seasons. While at USAC, Ray joined the ROTC and was made Cadet Major. He graduated in 1950 with a degree in Physical Education.

After graduation, Ray joined the Kansas City Hi-Spots NPBL (later the NBA). They played only one season in 1950-1951. Afterward, Ray returned to Richmond, married, and moved to California for work.

Epilogue