Sam Johnson returned home to Texas after serving in the U.S. Air Force for 29-years as a highly decorated fighter pilot.He flew combat missions in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was a Prisoner of War in Hanoi for nearly seven years.
After his distinguished military career, Johnson started a home-building business from scratch and served in the Texas legislature.In 1991, he embarked on a new mission of service to his country - representing the people of Texas’ Third District in the United States Congress.
A vocal advocate of less government and lower taxes, Johnson sits on the prestigious Ways and Means Committee.Johnson serves as the Ranking Member on the Social Security Subcommittee and is one of the few Members of Congress to have his own plan to strengthen Social Security with personal accounts.
One of a handful of combat veterans in Congress, Johnson has led the charge to stand up for the troops on the ground – regardless of the political posturing in Washington, DC.
Earlier this year, Johnson authored a proposal to fully-fund all troops in harm’s way.In fact, Johnson spent the anniversary of his homecoming from captivity, February 12, 2007, pleading with a House panel to include his measure as part of the House debate on the future of the troops in Iraq.Johnson insisted, “I know what it’s like to be far from home and hear that your country AND your Congress don’t care about you. Our troops stand up for us every minute of every day.We must stand up for them in Congress.To our troops, we must remain always faithful.”
After growing up in Dallas and graduating from SMU, Johnson began his 29-year career in the U.S. Air Force at the young age of 20.Johnson served as director of the Air Force Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) and was one of two authors of the air tactics manual revolutionizing military air dominance by incorporating three-dimensional flight.
During the Korean War, Johnson flew 62 combat missions in his F-86, stationed just 25 miles away from the front lines.In his plane, Shirley’s Texas Tornado, Johnson scored one MiG fighter kill, one probable and one damaged.While Johnson took his share of enemy gunfire and flak, he emerged from the war unscathed.
Back at Nellis AFB in Nevada, Johnson flew the solo and slot positions for the world-renowned Air Force Thunderbirds precision flying demonstration team in the F-100 super sabre.
In the Vietnam War during his first tour of duty, he worked at Military Assistance Command in Vietnam (MACV) headquarters in Saigon, helping coordinate the first B-52 strikes under General Westmoreland.
During Johnson’s second tour, he flew F-4 Phantom combat missions with the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing in Thailand.During his second tour of duty, Johnson flew his 25th combat mission on April 16, 1966. Shot down at dusk over North Vietnam, Johnson suffered a broken right arm, dislocated left shoulder and a broken back.It was these injuries that the enemy captors would use in their constant efforts to glean information from Johnson.
Johnson spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war, 42 months in solitary confinement.Forced into solitary when his captives labeled him a “die-hard,” Johnson committed 374 names to memory from tapping a special code on the prison wall. “We were all trying to memorize names in case anybody got out,” Johnson remembers.
While held in the infamous Hanoi Hilton, Johnson spent 72 days in leg stocks.A day after that torture ended, his captives forced him into leg irons for 2 ½ years.Weighing
200 lbs when shot down, an emaciated Johnson got down to an estimated 120 lbs while barely surviving on the occasional “meal” of weeds from the river, pig fat, white rice, or pumpkin soup.
Fellow POW Capt. James Mulligan, USN (Ret.) recalled the day Johnson was allowed to return to a joint cell. He walked into the room with the two other detained American officers, “stood at attention with tears in his eyes, and said simply, ‘Lieutenant Colonel Sam Johnson reporting for duty, sir’…after he had not talked to or directly been with an American for three and a half years.”
Johnson chronicles his POW experience in solitary confinement in his autobiography, Captive Warriors.The book details the stories of eleven of the self-named “Alcatraz Gang,” including great American patriots, such as Jeremiah Denton, Jim Stockdale and Jim Mulligan.
Other career highlights include:attending army jump school during the Cuban Missile Crisis and experiencing five nuclear bomb explosions at the Nevada test site.Johnson flew through one nuclear explosion to gauge the effects to the plane, later joking, “Why didn’t they want to know the effects on the pilot?”A graduate of the National War College, Johnson served as Wing Commander of the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Homestead AFB in Florida flying F-4s and Air Division Commander at Holloman AFB in New Mexico flying F-15s, where he retired a Colonel.
A decorated combat veteran and war hero, Johnson was awarded two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, one Bronze Star with Valor, two Purple Hearts, four Air Medals, and three Outstanding Unit Awards.
Sam Johnson is married to the former Shirley L. Melton of Dallas. They are proud parents of three children and grandparents to ten.
