Lieutenant Commander Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson, our 36th president, was appointed a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserves in June 1940. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he was called for active duty and assigned to work at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington.
Johnson was anxious to experience military service and according to his biographer, Robert Dallek, he requested duty in the Pacific to participate in combat operations. He was assigned to observation duty on Navy bombers and one of the planes he was riding received enemy fire and had to make an emergency landing.
After a meeting with General Douglas MacArthur where he described the bomber being hit by enemy fire, he was awarded a Silver Star. He was the only person amongst the crew who received that award.
On June 21, 1940, Lyndon Johnson was appointed Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve (USNR). Reporting for active duty on Dec. 10, 1941, three days after Pearl Harbor, he was ordered to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department, Washington, D.C.
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