Gen. Axel Johnson (ret)
Johnson is one of two Mason County residents to achieve rank of general
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
LUDINGTON — The story of the life of Retired Brigadier General Axel Johnson III, to date, is worthy of a book rather than a single feature article in observance of Veterans Day.
Johnson’s life and career in Mason County is one of historical significance. He was one of two men from Mason County to achieve the rank of general in the U.S. Army; the other was Donald Raymond Keith (1927-2004), a 1944 graduate of Ludington High School who joined the Army as a private and became a four-star general, retiring in 1984.
Gen. Donald Keith
Serving Mason County, Dr. Johnson was one of the founders of what is now West Michigan Community Mental Health. He developed preschool testing programs locally that became models by the state. He helped bring the internet to West Shore Community College and Ludington Area School District.
Serving the state of Michigan, he commanded troops that protected Detroit during the 1967 riots.
Serving his country, he commanded thousands of troops and oversaw their training, preparing them for war.
Those are just a few of many examples of his service to country and community.
Johnson, 87, comes from pioneer Mason County families. His mother, Beatrice Helen Hawley, came from a family who settled in Mason County in 1860 while his father, Axel Johnson Jr. came from a family who came to Mason County in the 1880s.
Axel Johnson III was born on March 7, 1938 and spent the first few years of his life living in the upstairs of the Johnson Building in the 400 block of South James Street (that building now houses Jamesport Brewing Company). In 1941, his father was able to purchase a house in the 400 block of Filer Street.
“That’s where I grew up,” Johnson recalled. “That was our stomping grounds, all the way to Ludington Avenue to Dowland Street, James Street to Washington Avenue. In the morning, we would leave the house and the rule was that when the street lights came on, you came home. There must have been 30 to 40 kids in our neighborhood. Every adult knew who each of us were and who our parents were.”
Private Johnson
Johnson graduated with the LHS class of 1956, the last senior class to attend the high school on Foster Street, which later became Foster Elementary. He and his classmates, only about 12 of them now, continue to meet for breakfast every third Tuesday of the month.
Following high school, he enrolled in college at Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science (which became Michigan State University in 1964).
“I knew I wanted to go to Michigan State,” Johnson said. “My brother started there in 1949. In 1950, when I was a boy scout, we got to go to the games and help escort people to their seats. I remember seeing my brother there.”
In the 1950s, college students were required to enroll two years in reserve officer training corps (ROTC).
“I decided that I didn’t like the military at all,” Johnson said. “I had respected the military. My dad was an aerial gunnery instructor during the first world war and my Uncle Albert was a command sergeant major in World War I. My brother was an instructor of combat engineers during Korea.”
But, fate had a different course for Axel Johnson III.
Following his love for history, he majored in history at Michigan State with the goal of becoming a teacher. However, history teacher jobs were hard to come by in the early 1960s.
“So, in 1960, I decided to join the National Guard in Manistee,” he said. “There was a large contingent of Ludington guys who belonged to the Manistee guard. I thought it would be a good time to serve. This was right before Vietnam.”
Though he had enlisted in the National Guard, Johnson’s ambition was to become a B-58 pilot in the U.S. Air Force.
“I took a five-day leave of absence from the National Guard and went to Selfridge Air Force Base (near Detroit, now Selfridge Air National Guard Base). I took all the tests and passed, except the very last one, which was depth perception. I didn’t have depth perception and therefore didn’t qualify. Then, I began my Army career.”
Johnson led a life of dual careers, which is common for those who serve in the military reserves.
In 1961, he was employed by General Motors Oldsmobile Division in Lansing working on computers and data processing. But, education was his passion and he went back to school to earn a teaching certificate. He then earned a master’s degree in psychiatric social work in 1967.
His first education job was as a social worker at Pontiac Public Schools. He then moved to Jackson Public Schools where the small town Ludington native entered a new world of urban education. His naiveness of youth and coming from a small town likely allowed him to bring a different perspective to racial social issues that the school system was facing. Johnson was able to work out creative solutions that brought equity to disciplinary issues, and prevented further divisions.
Parallel with his civilian career, Johnson began to advance his military career as well. He attended officer training school at Fort Sill in Oklahoma in 1963. He was assigned to the 199th Field Artillery Regiment in Lansing, the “Red Lions,” which specialized in the 105 howitzer.
“That unit has a long heritage that goes back to World War I and also fought with distinction in World War II,” Johnson said.
Among Johnson’s duties was serving as assistant executive officer of a firing battery. He then became battery commander.
The lessons he learned as an urban school social worker helped him as he led his National Guard troops during the 1967 Detroit riots. While there, as a first lieutenant and executive officer, he was in charge of soldiers who were protecting firefighters.
“It was a harrowing experience,” he said. “One guardsman was shot and killed. But, the military and society learned a lot of that experience. The next year we were sent back to Detroit and there was no riot. That wasn’t all because of the Guard, however. It was also because of Martin Luther King.”
Johnson’s experiences at Jackson Public Schools also encouraged him to earn his doctorate in education and psychiatric social work.
“I was interested in what was going on in school curriculums so I earned my PhD,” he said.
A visit back to Ludington in 1967, found Johnson in the office of Hal Madden, assistant superintendent of Ludington Area School District (and later superintendent). Madden was the treasurer of the Mason County mental health board, Johnson said. “At that time the county was contracting mental health services with Muskegon and it was costing a lot of money. Hal asked if I could lead the way in forming our own service. By 1968, we had started Mason County Community Mental Health, which is now part of West Michigan Community Mental Health. I got a job at Manistee Intermediate School District and would work there during the day. At night, I would work on CMH issues.”
The staff of CMH at that time was four people, Johnson said. Those four developed a preschool screening process that was modeled by the state of Michigan.
His career then took him to Santa Barbara, Calif. from 1972 to 1976 and then back to Mason County in 1976 when he worked for the Mason-Manistee substance abuse agency.
In 1979, Johnson was hired as a school psychologist at Ludington Area School District. He then became director of special education and then assistant superintendent, retiring in 1994.
Johnson later became a battalion commander training drill sergeants at Fort Benning in Georgia. There, he would take some of the lessons he learned at Foster Elementary from his teacher who taught him to love running.
“I would normally lead the runs, leading the battalions,” he said. “It was fun. My wife always has told me that I’m loud.”
As he progressed up the ranks, he took on more command duties.
In August 1990, the United States started to build up troops in Saudi Arabia in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Operation Desert Shield was completed in January 1991 when it became Operation Desert Storm as the U.S. military liberated Kuwait and then invaded Iraq. Johnson, as a colonel, was part of the team that prepared 10,000 reserve soldiers for war.
Ultimately, 1,500 of his soldiers were sent to the Middle East — he was not one of them.
“I wanted to go to war,” he said. “I believed that I had been training my entire career to go. But, my commanders believed I was needed back in the states, training troops. Looking back, they were right.”
Johnson, as a psychiatrist and social worker, also made sure that his troops integrated back into society when they returned and that they were treated with dignity and appreciation.
Photo by Russ Miller
“My goal was to make sure that what happened to Vietnam veterans did not happen again,” he said. “Those soldiers were disrespected when they returned home. No parades. No thank you. They were literally spit upon. I was spit upon when I was wearing my uniform during those times. I made sure that the veterans of Desert Storm returned to communities that were thankful. We would have bands playing when they arrived. We would have mayors from cities like Detroit, Indianapolis, Ft. Wayne. They were treated like heroes, because they were heroes.”
Johnson also assured that his soldiers returned with the ability to take full advantage of Veterans Administration benefits, especially in the possibility that they may have acquired what was known as Gulf War Syndrome. No solider received a DD 214, certificate of discharge, until full medical examinations that covered any possible future illnesses, Johnson said.
In 1991, Johnson was promoted to brigadier general. Not only was the promotion a monumental task for him personally, but it was a rather historic event in Ludington, especially since only one other person from Mason County had ever achieved such a military rank. While an official military ceremony took place on base, the events were re-enacted back in Ludington.
“That was very special,” Johnson said. “It was great to have my family and friends here, especially my friends who were World War II veterans.” One of the most special attendees was Louis Schauer (1915-1999) who was an aviator serving at Hickam Field, Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941.
As a brigadier general, Johnson was deputy commanding general of the 123rd Army Reserve Command at Fort Ben Harrison in Indiana, following a stint of serving as acting commander of the 123rd during the return of troops from southeast Asia.
As a soldier, Johnson knows the importance of sacrifice for the better good. In 1993, he made a decision worthy of a true American hero. He decided to retire from his military career and turned down an offer to be promoted to major general (two stars). The choice was simple. His family needed him.
Johnson’s two children, Laura and Axel IV, were young adults in 1993. Laura, the mother of a 3-year-old son, Nicholas, had become hospitalized and needed someone to help raise her son.
“It was an easy decision,” Johnson said. “My daughter and my grandson needed me. That was more important than my career in the military. I certainly enjoyed the military and the camaraderie, but my family was more important. I have no regrets.”
A few years later, Johnson and his wife, Gail, raised Nicholas through his teenage years.
“Today, my grandson is 34 years old and it was an honor to help raise him.”
A year after his retirement from the military, Johnson also retired from his career as assistant superintendent of Ludington Area School District. But, his career wasn’t over. He then spent over a year as interim superintendent of Walkerville School District. He was then recruited to return to his roots as a school psychiatrist, this time for the Mason-Lake Intermediate School District, which later became the West Shore Educational Service District. He continued in that role, off and on, until finally retiring at the age of 81 in 2019.
“They wanted me to come back but Gail said I was done,” Johnson said with a laugh.
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