Lyndon B. Johnson’s World War II Service – and “War Experiences”

(Updated 12/3/2020 — originally published 8/21/2019)

After Pearl Harbor, Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson decided his political career would benefit from a stint in the navy.

Johnson visited Admiral Chester Nimitz, a Hill Country native, who signed the forms necessary to install Johnson as a lieutenant commander, even though he had no training or experience to justify such a position. He originally wanted to be assigned a job in Washington but went to Undersecretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal to procure orders to conduct an inspection tour of West Coast training programs with his administrative assistant, John Connally, who had enlisted in the Naval Reserve. Johnson’s lack of training caused his failure to salute an admiral. His reflection was characteristically self-absorbed: “I did not fully appreciate that my uniform completely concealed my status as a congressman . . . the fact that I looked like any other junior officer and . . . was expected to salute my superiors.”[1]

Perhaps Johnson felt the admiral had erred in not saluting him, Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson. Shortly after signing up, Johnson spent several weeks in Los Angeles where one of his financial supporters, Edwin Weisl, Sr., who was counsel for Paramount Pictures, arranged for Johnson and John Connally to attend screenings and parties and long sessions with a Hollywood photographer and voice coach to help Johnson improve his speaking style and posing skills; meanwhile, dispatches came in describing the fighting going on in such places as the Bataan Peninsula and the Makassar Straits. For six months in 1942, Johnson and Connally remained in California, and five of those months were spent, according to Robert Caro, “trying to further his political future, while ensconcing himself in precisely the type of bureaucratic “safe, warm naval berth” he had promised to avoid. For five months, he delayed and stalled, making no serious attempt to get into combat while having what his sidekick John Connally was to call “a lot of fun.”[2]

Apparently, the contrast between Johnson’s “wartime experiences” thus far — and the battles being waged in faraway places — caused his mistress, Alice Glass, to become disillusioned with his character and made her feelings known. After five months of politicking and partying on the West Coast, Johnson tried to legitimize his responsibilities by securing an overseas assignment; his secretaries back in Washington had been telling his constituents that though his present location was unknown, he was enroute to the war zone in the Pacific. He was finally dispatched with two other congressmen as “observers,” a capacity that made them useful to General Douglas MacArthur in relation to his own political necessities; evidently, Johnson subjected MacArthur to his famous treatment at some point, given the bounty he would bring back to Washington.

According to the LBJ Library official website, for a total of two months, (mid May – July, 1942) Lyndon Johnson served in the Pacific theater as an inspector of facilities:

“Stationed in New Zealand and Australia, he participated as an observer on a number (sic — there was only one) of bomber missions in the South Pacific. He was awarded the Army Silver Star Medal by General Douglas MacArthur” — and it was cited as follows, indubitably as dictated by Johnson himself:

• “For gallantry in action in the vicinity of Port Moresby and Salamaua, New Guinea, on June 9, 1942. While on a mission of obtaining information in the Southwest Pacific area, Lieutenant Commander Johnson, in order to obtain personal knowledge of combat conditions, volunteered as an observer on a hazardous aerial combat mission over hostile positions in New Guinea. As our planes neared the target area they were intercepted by eight hostile fighters. When, at this time, the plane in which Lieutenant Commander Johnson was an observer, developed mechanical trouble and was forced to turn back alone, presenting a favorable target to the enemy fighters, he evidenced marked coolness in spite of the hazards involved. His gallant actions enabled him to obtain and return with valuable information.”

• In addition to the Army Silver Star Medal, Commander Johnson has the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

The real story is a bit more mundane, with none of the allusions to his illusive “gallantry.”

Johnson arrived early in June in an area of northern Australia that was considered a combat zone. Commander Johnson, like the other observers, accompanied a squadron assigned to bomb an enemy airfield. The mission of June 9 was code-named Tow Nine and involved eleven twin-engine bombers known as Martin B-26A Marauders of the Twenty-second Bombardment Group from Port Moresby, New Guinea. Their target was Lae airdrome, an important Japanese installation on New Guinea’s northern coast.

At this point, three completely different stories of Johnson’s short ride in a Marauder emerge (Actually FOUR, considering how Robert Caro has written two contradictory accounts, as described below).

The first is Johnson’s own (as indicated in the hyperbolic excerpt noted above), which was subsequently reshaped into an account (The Mission, by Martin Caidin and Edward Hymoff) that was published in 1964, just as he was preparing his run for the presidency. Caidin was an already-established aviation writer, best known for books on space exploration and WWII in the Pacific; Johnson had doubtlessly heard of his books and apparently commissioned him to create another one, based upon his lies.

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The second version appeared two months after he became President. It was also indubitably put out by Johnson; though a much shorter version, it added two more lies:

(1) It claimed one of the two engines had been shot out by a Japanese airplane, and

(2) It stated that “he and the others on that aircraft earned a decoration for heroism.” As will be seen shortly, the other veterans on board that aircraft were very upset upon hearing that he received the Silver Star when none of them were given any awards whatsoever.

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The third version of Johnson’s ride on a Marauder couldn’t have differed more from others, including the Caidin – Hymoff book The Mission, but considering that it was told by veterans who were actually there, it is the more believable story, as summarized below:

The following unedited excerpts (obviously written candidly by someone with little affinity towards President Johnson) regarding the story of Johnson’s mission, and the Silver Star controversially awarded to him, were taken from the B-26 Marauder Historical Society’s website:[3]

• “The fact is LBJ never got within sight of Japanese forces. His mission, like so much of his life, was a lie . . . The exact origins of the contrived decoration remain unknown. Major General R. K. Sutherland, MacArthur’s chief of staff, made the award in MacArthur’s name on June 18, 1942, just nine days after the alleged episode. The following day Brigadier General W. F. Marquat wrote Johnson, filling LBJ’s request for a signed copy of the citation. In his cover letter, Marquat stated, ‘Of course, your outstanding bravery in volunteering for a so-called suicide mission in order to get a first-hand view of what our Army fliers go through has been the subject of much favorable comment since your departure. It is indeed a great government we have when members of the Congress take THOSE chances in order to better serve their fellow men in the legislative bodies. You surely earned your decoration and I am so happy about your having received the award.’

• “Clearly, the perception of Johnson’s valor as characterized in General Marguat’s letter was not shared by aircrews at the sharp end. Far from the “suicide mission” the general alluded to, 22nd Bomb Group airmen had a far more realistic attitude toward Lae. Records and combat veterans attest that the group lost twice as many aircraft over Rabaul, the naval-air bastion on New Britain, as at Lae. Colonel Leon G. Lewis, USAF (Ret), who flew with Lieutenant Hayes in Shamrock, recalled, ‘The targets, Lae and Salamaua, were milk runs; on the other hand, Rabaul was a tough mission. We were not aware at the time of Lyndon Johnson’s write-up for the Silver Star; they were scarce for aircrews.’

• “The decoration remains a sore point with many 22nd Bomb Group veterans. The Hare’s crew chief, retired Master Sergeant W. H. Harrison, said, ‘As to the strangeness of LBJ’s Silver Star . . . no other crew member aboard 1488 received one.’ Equally adamant was the Hare’s regular gunner Robert Marshal, who said, ‘We didn’t know (LBJ) was awarded the Silver Star until the book came out. We didn’t like it. If he got it, then so should everyone else on the mission.‘ In truth, if any decoration was awarded the various observers on the mission, it should have been the Air Medal. Ordinarily presented for five or more missions, it was regarded by aviators as an “I-was-there” award; a means of setting apart those who have performed a combat function. Award of the Silver Star—even had Johnson’s citations been accurate—was an insult to every man who earned the medal.” (Emphasis added throughout)

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In June and July of 2001, a flurry of news articles appeared which questioned the legitimacy of Johnson’s medal (See here and here for examples). It is pertinent to point out that the first of the series, The Story of LBJ’s Silver Star, by Jamie McIntyre (CNN military affairs correspondent) and Jim Barnett (CNN producer) has been taken down by CNN for undisclosed reasons — but undoubtedly due to its politically-incorrect nature that has since become much more important than the disclosure of essential truths.

Within one of them, the son of the man who had been the navigator on that flight, Second Lt. Billy B. Boothe stated that his father tried — unsuccessfully, due to his superior officers’ orders against doing so — to correct the record with his original notes from that day: [4]

“Boothe’s handwritten dairy for June 9, 1942, says, “Our ship turned up with magneto trouble in the generator and had to return after being out for 45 minutes. To go on the mission with us was a congressman from Texas — Johnson. I think he was glad to turn about and come in.”

How Famed Historians / Biographers of LBJ Portrayed Johnson’s Silver Star

The two leading biographers of Johnson, Robert Caro and Robert Dallek, commented on Johnson’s Silver Star in the referenced CNN report, The Story of LBJ’s Silver Star, by Jamie McIntyre (CNN military affairs correspondent) and Jim Barnett (CNN producer):

• Robert Dallek: What I concluded was that there was an agreement, a deal made between LBJ and Gen. MacArthur. And the deal was Johnson would get this medal, which somebody later said was the least deserved and most talked about medal in American military history. And MacArthur, in return, had a pledge from Johnson that he would lobby FDR to provide greater resources for the southwest Pacific theater . . . It matters that the record is accurate because it speaks volumes about the man, about his character, about his place in history, about judgments that historians make on him. Is he to be trusted?

• Robert Caro: The most you can say about Lyndon Johnson and his Silver Star is that it is surely one of the most undeserved Silver Stars in history. Because [even] if you accept everything that he said, he was still in action for no more than thirteen minutes and only as an observer. Men who flew many missions, brave men, never got a Silver Star . . .I would say that it’s an issue of exaggerations. He said that he flew on many missions, not one mission. He said that the crew members, the other members of the Air Force group, were so admiring of him that they called him Raider Johnson. Neither of these things are true.

Note Caro’s mention of “if you accept everything that he said” because, evidently, this biographer has done just that, despite the fact that he once wrote convincingly that Johnson was a pathological liar who was given the nickname “Bull” by his college peers. Quoting one of the many who repeated it, “‘That was what we called him to his face,’ Edward Puls, another classmate, says. ‘That was what he was generally called. Because of this constant braggadocio. Because he was so full of bullshit, manure, that people just didn’t believe him. Because he was a man who just could not tell the truth.” (The Path to Power, p. 160)

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Robert Caro’s Descent:

From Writing Essential Truths to Politically-Correct Myth

Within his second book Means of Ascent (1990) Caro devoted over six pages detailing Johnson’s prevarications (more than half explaining how practically everyone came to view it as a joke), summarizing it thusly:

Also revealing was the fact that he would persist in these exaggerations and keep adding new ones — until the story of his war service bore little relation indeed to fact — even under circumstances in which he must have been aware of the possibility that the facts might be checked: when he was President . . . [Quoting Texas journalist Ronnie Dugger] “He not only let falsehood pass for truth, he faked his record himself. Telling me about the mission over Lae, he said that when twenty Zeroes attacked them, ‘it was like shooting fish out of a barrel.’ Fourteen of the planes got the hell shot out of them. He saw Colonel Stevens’ plane go down. He said that everybody who survived that mission got a Silver Star; everybody who died got the Distinguished Service Cross.” (pages 46 – 53)

Despite everything he wrote twenty-two years earlier, when he published his fourth tome on Lyndon Johnson, The Passage of Power (2012), Caro wrote — in the middle of his account of Johnson’s actions riding in the Dallas motorcade just as JFK was being murdered, as if to emphasize LBJ’s “coolness” under pressure (a brazen absurdity) — that, for future political points:

“. . . he had to be able to say he had at least been in a combat zone, he went to the South Pacific and flew as an observer on a bomber that was attacked by Japanese Zeroes. And as the Zeroes were heading straight for the bomber, firing as they came, its crew saw Lyndon Johnson climb into the navigator’s bubble so that he could get a better view, and stand there staring right at the oncoming planes, ‘just as calm,’ in the words of one crew member, ‘as if he were on a sight-seeing tour.'” (p. 314)

Despite everything else he had written within his first two books — not only about LBJ’s general aversion to being truthful about anything — describing this specific WWII event in the context of how Johnson’s actions somehow became “heroic” can only be interpreted as a complete submission to the very “power” that he describes as being what he investigates. Mr. Caro’s unqualified words, as though there were no questions about their veracity, is a troubling measure of the worthiness of Mr. Caro’s descending career trajectory.

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When Johnson returned from his “war experience,” he initially told others that he didn’t deserve the medal, claiming that he wouldn’t wear it. He even wrote a letter of formal refusal, stating “I cannot in good conscience accept the decoration” and had the letter typed, ready for his signature, but it was filed away, unsigned and never to be mailed.[5]

Instead, he arranged to have the Silver Star presented to him in public, several times. He purchased a jeweler’s quality battle ribbon emblematic of the Silver Star at a store in Washington and wore it often in public appearances; once at an American Legion post in Fort Worth, he had the commander pin it on him while “a crowd of Legionnaires cheered and Johnson stood before them, head bowed, face somber, hardly able to blink back the tears.”[6] To make sure people recognized it, he would place his left hand on his lapel and pull it forward and back, waving it, as he extolled his own heroic and patriotic, death-defying actions during his thirteen-minute airplane ride (according to his predominant biographer Robert Caro, as noted above).

Joe M. Kilgore, a Texan who worked for Lyndon Johnson for twenty years, finally realized that Johnson would believe only that which he wanted to, that Johnson often mistook his delusions for truth. Some instances, such as his grandfather’s supposed death at the Alamo, were relatively harmless; others, like his belief that he and he alone knew how to beat back the Communists in Vietnam, were highly destructive.[7] According to Kilgore, Johnson went from feigning surprise at receiving the Silver Star, and uttering doubts about whether it was deserved, to complaining that it was “only” the Silver Star; he came to believe he had been shortchanged and should have been granted a superior medal—the Medal of Honor: “He believed it totally.”[8] (Emphasis added).

Johnson’s propensity to become convinced that the lie was the truth, no matter what, would manifest over and over throughout his career. It was Robert Caro’s two earliest books that proved that point. But within his last two, Caro has transformed himself completely, capitulating from truth-seeking investigative journalist into a politically-correct scribe seemingly relegated to dispensing grist for the official state mythology of a man called “Bull” by those who knew him best.

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End Notes

[1] Dugger, Ronnie. The Politician—The Life and Times of Lyndon Johnson: The
Drive for Power, from the Frontier to Master of the Senate, p. 239

[2] Caro, Robert A., The Years of Lyndon Johnson—Means of Ascent, pp.24-25; 45-46

[3] See http://www.b-26mhs.org/archives/manuscripts/lbj_fake_silverstar.html Interestingly, though that website link existed when “LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination” was published in 2010 and 2011, when I attempted to verify its existence in August, 2019 an error message “File not found [404 error]” is returned; I requested an explanation of that from the B-26 Marauder Historical Society; their response was that the disappearance was caused by a crash in their website (no apparent cause was stated) and when the new website was created they no longer had the information available. 

Jamie McIntyre, the reporter who was behind the original 2001 CNN report, wrote an article in May, 2019 “Another Undeserved Military Honor for LBJ” reaffirming the content of the earlier report, That article can be accessed HERE.

A transcript of the original CNN video is available HERE.

[4] McIntyre, Jamie, “Navigator’s son disputes LBJ ever saw combat” CNN report July 9, 2001 www.cnn.com/2001/US/07/09/lbj.silverstar/index.html

[5] Caro, Means . . . p. 51

[6] Ibid., p. 52

[7] Ibid. pp. 52-53

[8] Ibid.