Gerald arrived at Wrekin in 1930 a small and rather timid boy leaving in 1935 as one of the most light-hearted and high-spirited boys imaginable. His interest in aviation saw him obtain his private pilots licence in 1936 and on the outbreak of war he naturally volunteered for the RAF. However, his health let him down and he failed the flight crew medical and so rather than remain on the ground he elected to transfer to the Royal Signals. 

In 1940 having completed his training he was posted to the Middle East where he reached Benghazi; his unit then holed up in besieged Tobruk before their rescue by the Royal Navy.

Not always in the best of health, the climate not helping at all, Gerald [aged 27] was the second OW to be killed in action on Tuesday 9^th November 1943. He is also the second OW to lie in Heliopolis War Cemetery, Cairo, Egypt with a comrade who died after the war had ended.

Elder son of Robert Gerald Johnson & Dorothy Catherine Johnson of Endon, Staffordshire.

A copy of Gerald's story may be downloaded here.

See also the Commonwealth War Graves Commission permanent digital memorial, ‘Evermore: Stories of the fallen’ relating to:-
Signalman Gerald Anthony JOHNSON