Malcolm D. Johnson was born in Colville, Washington. He does not have many memories of the Great Depression. He grew up on a farm where they raised their own food. There were six children. There were too many mouths to feed so he went to work off the farm. He went to work for the parks system at age 17. He later went overseas. His family did not suffer like the people in the cities did. He worked cleaning ditches overseas. A friend of his worked on the Grand Coulee Dam and he and Johnson together sent in applications to work for Morrison-Knudsen contractors. [Annotator's Note: Morrison-Knudsen was American civil engineering and construction company that built airfields, storage depots, and bases throughout the Pacific Theater.] Johnson earned around 100 dollars a month which was good income for the times. He was hired as a laborer. He shipped out of Oakland, California, made a stop in Hawaii and then continued on to Wake, Island on Easter Sunday, 13 April 1941. They were building a small town and an airport with seaplane ramp there. Johnson drove a truck and then went into a mechanic company. They lived in a barracks in cubicles and ate in a mess hall. They worked ten hour days in the beginning, but soon worked around the clock. The working conditions were good and they ate well. They could watch movies and play baseball. The rats were everywhere. They would kill crabs and then the rats when they came out to eat the crabs. Some of the men went out fishing but they would mostly catch sharks. Johnson drove the garbage truck in the evenings. They would dump the garbage into the ocean.

Malcolm Johnson was a civilian contractor for Morrison-Knudsen [Annotator’s Note: American civil engineering and construction company; built airfields, storage depots, and bases throughout the Pacific Theater] on Wake Island in 1941. The trip from the United States to Wake Island took about a month. They were on a very old Navy ship. He made friends with a lot of the Marines that were there. Johnson heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor over the radio. Everyone just kept on working because there was nowhere to go. Around noon the Japanese attacked Wake. Johnson was working in a small shop on Wilkes Island when the first raid hit the other island. Johnson mostly saw a lot of airplanes and black smoke. He was about a mile away and could not hear the airplanes due to the surf. Most of the men headed for the high brush but there was not much protective cover. They were told to keep working. Most of the aircraft maintenance crew were killed in the first attack. Johnson volunteered to go over and replace them.

Malcolm Johnson was a civilian contractor working on Wilkes Island when the Japanese attacked Wake Island. He volunteered to go over to Wake to help replace the aircraft maintenance mechanics who had been killed. The Japanese fleet was about four miles offshore when they did the first shore bombardment. The next time they came they were much further out. The first time Johnson was in an attack, he was loading ammunition into the machine gun belts. The surf made it hard to hear the incoming aircraft, so no air raid sirens sounded. Johnson stayed right on the airstrip which was constantly being attacked. There were only two or three American aircraft left [Annotator’s Note: Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter aircraft] and they worked to do what they could to keep them in flying condition. Some people brought water and others brought food. They did what it took to get by. They had plenty of food. A PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat] came in to pick up a Marine officer. Johnson sent a letter home via that aircraft. He still has that letter somewhere. He says if he would have had sense, he would have stowed away in it and gotten off the island. On the first day of the attack, they had a Martin flying boat [Annotator’s Note: Martin M-130 flying boat] they called the China Clipper which took off for Guam but had to come back because Guam was under attack too. All of the employees of a hotel loaded on it and left to go back to Guam except for the Chamorros [Annotator's Note: name for natives of Guam, which is called Chamorro by them] who they left behind. There were maybe 30 or 40 of these natives of Guam who were working for the Pan American Hotel. They were all thrown together into the same prison ultimately, but they stuck together.

Malcolm Johnson was a civilian contractor working on the airfield at Wake Island when the Japanese tried to land troops ashore. He could hear the firing of the guns and he could see the smoke from the damaged Japanese ships. Two of them had run up on the reef and dumped troops out. The men Johnson was with were to defend the airport. A little after daylight, Johnson was hit. There were 22 civilians and 26 Marines trying to make this line of defense. On the first day 38 were killed. Another nine, including Johnson, were wounded. One guy did not get hurt. He saw two or three of his friends get bayoneted. He still hears from one pilot who escaped later and who wrote to Johnson's parents. [Annotator's Note: Johnson gets slightly emotional.] The pilot was a second lieutenant who ultimately made a 30 year career of the Marines and was a full general, John Kinney [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Brigadier General John F. Kinney]. Kinney escaped in North China later, as did one civilian. Johnson had been wounded by machine gun fire in the arm and shoulder but he was not hurt as badly as others. It took him out of work for about nine months. There was no hospital treatment for him. The Japanese lined them all up and threatened them. They were trying to get one aircraft [Annotator's Note: Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter aircraft] running. There were only two left by then. One of the pilots later crashed one of the planes on the beach after getting shot in the neck. They would hear that the Navy and Marines were coming to rescue them. Johnson was just worried about when the next attack would come. The air attacks were fairly constant. The Japanese had a submarine off the island and the Americans sunk it which destroyed the homing beacon for the bombers.

Malcolm Johnson was a civilian contractor working on the airfield at Wake Island when the Japanese attacked them. He was wounded. In the middle of the night, he was alerted that the enemy was on the island. They attacked early that morning. Johnson was next to a three inch antiaircraft gun. The Japanese aircraft kept dive bombing that position until they hit it, killing the two civilians and one Marine handling that gun. Around 10 January 1942, the Japanese took them off the island. Johnson says that everybody has a different story to tell about a different war. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks him to describe the events leading up to surrender.] Some of the men were under the platform of gun, hiding. Devereux [Annotator's Note: then US Marine Corps Major James Patrick Sinnott Devereux, commander 1st Defense Battalion, US Marine Corps, Wake Island] was the commander of the Marines and he came out with a white flag. That's when he saw some of his friends were bayoneted. He was surprised Devereux surrendered but knows that all of them would have been killed otherwise. Most of the Japanese bombing took place around the fuel tanks and living quarters. There were about seven men around where Johnson was working, including three Marine pilots that had no aircraft to fly. There were not enough guns to go around, but Johnson received a .45 pistol [Annotator's Note: M1911 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol] with 50 shells.

Malcolm Johnson went to hide with a Marine sergeant about 300 yards from the airstrip on Wake Island. The Japanese surrounded them with bayonets and made them get down on the ground. Johnson and the other civilians were separated from the Marines. They were there overnight. A couple of days later they got moved to the barracks which was now just shelter from the gusty rains that occurred in the evenings. The Japanese stored water in drums that had held gasoline. The desalination plant operated 24 hours a day but there was not enough water produced. They had no clothes other than what they were wearing. It was blistering hot in the daytime. He did think maybe that they were going to kill them all, but he felt so bad from being shot that he did not worry about it. They spent around ten days on the island before a boat, Nigitsu Maru [Annotator’s Note: Actually, the Nitta Maru, also called Chuyo IJN], came to get them. Johnson almost fell into the water going aboard. Conditions were bad on the ship. Johnson and another wounded man were put in what was called the "silk room" and the others were in the bottom of the ship which was worse. He would get a bowl of rice once a day. They spent about ten days on the boat but he does not remember much about it now. They stopped in Yokohama, Japan for a few days. Some men were taken topside to have their picture taken. Johnson later saw the pictures in the Chinese "Life Magazine", similar to the American "Life Magazine". When they got off the boat is was raining and Yuse [Annotator's Note: Imperial Japanese Army Colonel Yuse was the commandant of the prisoner of war camp in Woosung, China] told them they were going to march to Central China. It was seven miles to the Woosung prison camp. Johnson and his friend were resting when Johnson was picked up by a truck. His friend had to walk. It was cold and wet there. They received curried rice to eat. This was camp Woosung outside of Shanghai. Then they transferred to camp Kiangwang which was closer to Shanghai. Woosung was run down but the prisoners made it livable. It was an old army barracks. They mostly worked in their own garden. A couple of months later, the men started to be shipped to Japan. Isamu Ishihara was in charge of them. Johnson says he was crazy and hated white guys. Johnson witnessed torture. Ishihara would carry a riding crop with two stingers on the end which he would place in a man's nose and twist. A lot of guys would have loved to have caught Ishihara after the war. Johnson was beaten once. A person they called Kinko would come through in the morning. He would hit people between the eyes with a club if they had not made their beds. Johnson was beaten for not having his bed made. One man had false teeth that he would rattle like a machine gun when the Japanese passed. Johnson was still recovering from his wounds and could not work. The Japanese tried to help him with his wounds, but they did not really have medical treatment for their own men. One of the Japanese doctors, Xiandong, was very good with the prisoners.

Malcolm Johnson had been a civilian contractor on Wake Island when he was wounded and taken prisoner by the Japanese. He was taken to the Woosung Prisoner of War camp near Shanghai, China. Some of the men planted a garden. Some of the men were taken out to build what they called Mount Fuji and many men got sick out there. They were told it was a playground. Even though it was a violation of the Geneva Conventions [Annotator's Note: international standards for humanitarian treatment in war] but they did it anyway. It got so hot there in the afternoons, they would be allowed to rest but then work until dark. Colonel Yuse [Annotator's Note: Imperial Japanese Army Colonel Yuse was the commandant of the prisoner of war camp in Woosung, China] was in charge of them there. He had a wicked temper. People did try to escape but they did not succeed. They would be sent to a different jail called Bridge House Gaol [Annotator's Note: Bridge House Jail, Japanese Kempeitai or secret military police, interrogation center in Shanghai, China]. Most would not know where to go if they did escape. He thinks five men were executed on the ship on the way there but is not sure. Otera [Annotator's Note: Imperial Japanese Army Colonel Otera replaced Colonel Yuse as the commandant of the prisoner of war camp in Woosung, China following Yuse's death] liked to hunt pheasants. One of his captains was caught trading wristwatches and Otera made him stand in the yard all day. They ate rice mostly until it ran out and then it was barley. Some vegetables were raised but the Japanese took them most of the time. The Red Cross sent parcels that they would occasionally get. Johnson thinks he got two full boxes that he split with everybody. They contained candy bars, powdered milk, cheese, cigarettes and plum duff British pudding. The Americans shared with the British but not vice versa. Most of the British were Merchant Marines. There were also Chinese prisoners as well as Chinese workers, about 20 of them. Eventually, all of the Americans were together but at first the civilians like Johnson were separated from the Marines. There were prisoners from the Dutch East Indies, Latvians, Poles and Indians, mainly off of merchant ships. Some Italian embassy guards were there late in the war. Woosung was a large facility. If you were white, you were treated badly. Prisoners built fences, worked on docks and did other jobs. When Johnson was in Japan, he and another guy were put on a detail where there was fresh fruit and they got sick. He laughs now.

Malcolm Johnson had been a civilian contractor on Wake Island when he was wounded and taken prisoner by the Japanese. He was taken to Woosung Prisoner of War camp near Shanghai, China. His wounds had pretty much healed after about a year. The weather changed drastically from Wake Island to China. They had no clothes. The Red Cross tried to send clothes but they did not receive them. [Annotator’' Note: The interviewer asks about the Swiss representative of the Red Cross and Shanghai Jimmy James.] A friend of Johnson's put on the funeral for Shanghai Jimmy James [Annotator's Note: Jimmy James Skaliski was a former American serviceman who opened a restaurant in Chefoo, China in 1924]. James was helpful in getting food to them and brought them Thanksgiving dinner once. James had been in an internment camp. Woosung camp had a small radio for news and after some time, some Irish priests were allowed in and they would quietly spread news of the war. Pilots who had been shot down would also come in with news that was encouraging. John Kinney [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Brigadier General John F. Kinney] had access to a radio that would work once in a while. Don Ledington was a tin smith and he helped build the radio. Johnson only heard news secondhand.

Malcolm Johnson had been a civilian contractor on Wake Island when he was wounded and taken prisoner by the Japanese. He was taken to Woosung Prisoner of War camp near Shanghai, China. From there he was taken by boxcar to northern Japan to Niigata Prison [Annotator's Note: Subcamp 5, Niigata Prefecture, Japan]. Each move was a worse camp. Not much food. Johnson was not there in the winter when they would get 14 feet of snow. Johnson worked on the docks packing bean bags that weighed 202 pounds. Sometimes he loaded boats; sometimes he unloaded boats. They were grass bags and they would scratch his back up. This camp was smaller than his previous camps. Bombers would come in at night and lay mines in the river. One accidentally hit the barracks at night without exploding. This was around May 1945 he thinks. There were a lot of Dutch there. They did the cooking and controlled the food. Johnson was not mistreated there. Some men got in trouble of their own making. Americans cannot stand it when things are going along evenly and have to kick up a ruckus. There were about 40 or 50 of them trying to get in a boxcar of dried fish and a guard hit them with clubs. Johnson says a boxcar of spoiled fish smells really bad. He recalls unloading corn once. The Japanese used small boats to move goods. There was a wooden submarine sweeper there that would patrol the harbor. Johnson had been worried about submarines a bit when on a ship between Korea and Japan. Johnson saw a lot of bombers going over day and night. He did see a B-29 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] get shot down. He thinks the Japanese were just as scared as he was. One day he was unloading a boat that was next to an ammunition ship. American dive bombers were attacking it and the Japanese would not let him off the boat he was on. Planes did approach closely enough to see that there were Americans there. When the Japanese surrendered, the pilots would drop handkerchiefs with stuff to them. B-29s would come in and kick out barrels of food to them. There were plenty of Japanese hunting for food then too. The guards started disappearing as the war wound down. One prisoner lost his mind and would go sit in a wrecked airplane at night. The Japanese just let him. A few men did go crazy. A prisoner tried to make a crystal radio set and told the guards who just laughed.

Malcolm Johnson had been a civilian contractor on Wake Island when he was wounded and taken prisoner by the Japanese. He ended up at Niigata Prison Camp [Annotator's Note: Subcamp 5, Niigata Prefecture, Japan] and was there when the war ended. The governor of Minnesota came in on a PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat] and told them they were free. A few days later he was loaded on a train at night and taken to Yokohama, Japan. He was place on a hospital ship and saw the first white girl he had seen in a long time. They all went to an airstrip and Johnson got on a plane to Taiwan where he spent 20 days. He was then put on a B-24 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] with seven others to Clark Field, Philippines, for another 20 days. One morning, ten of them were taken to Leyte and then on to Seattle, Washington, which was about 400 miles from his home. Just before the start of the war, the workers that joined Johnson on Wake Island were kids from the CCC [Annotator's Note: Civilian Conservation Corps] camps. Wake was about six or seven months behind Midway Island in construction. Johnson says his lowest point was being shot. He felt like a mule kicked him. Once the Japanese had him captive, it was too late to worry. Humor kept him going during his captivity. There was a large guy who always said they were getting out in August 1945. A lot of Japanese were on the street corners carrying on one night and the next morning Johnson found out it was about the dropping of the atomic bomb. He could not believe it. When he was flown out of Japan, he flew over Nagasaki, but he could not tell anything about it from their altitude.

After the end of the war, Malcolm Johnson was awarded the Bronze Star. [Annotator's Note: The Bronze Star Medal is a U.S. Armed Forces medal awarded for heroic or meritorious service in a combat zone.] He says it was because was a damn fool and got shot. He got mixed up in the fight on Wake Island. [Annotator's Note: The Battle of Wake Island began with a simultaneous attack with Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 8 December 1941 and continued on until the island was surrendered on 23 December 1941.] He feels he got the medal due to a pilot. Johnson did not know a thing about until his parents received a letter that said for him to go to Trentwood Rolling Mill [Annotator's Note: Trentwood Kaiser Aluminum Rolling Plant, Spokane, Washington] on a certain date. He went down and his cousin was there but he still did not know what the award was for. He did not hear anymore until he was declared a veteran. He was a civilian, but he was exposed to gunfire. He says that next time, somebody else can do it. He did receive back pay once he became a veteran and some from his employer [Annotator's Note: Morrison-Knudsen] for the four years he spent as a prisoner. Johnson feels he is still adjusting to life. His initial return to being a civilian took three or four months though. He had to go to work. He worked in the woods off and on one winter and then he went into farming. He got sick from eating too much too soon at first. He had gone from 120 pounds to 107 as a prisoner. He was sent to a doctor who only wanted to talk about the war. Johnson does not know if the war really changed him. It did increase the value of everything. It all means a little bit more now. The war changed the attitude of the country. Talking never answered anything since time began. He feels politicians need to realize it and he has no use for them. He considers them below used car salesmen. He thinks people are as patriotic today as ever. He feels that often the guy who does not say anything is probably the most patriotic of the bunch though or is at least more serious about. He can honestly say he was never "free, white, and 21". The war definitely changed the world. He thinks we are all in for a rude awakening with our life of ease. He thinks we cannot support the whole world. The spending of billions of dollars was bad, but a number of inventions came along because of it. Another bad is that everybody wants more for less. Johnson thinks The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana can let you see lots of things you cannot imagine. He spent a week in London, England at all of their museums. See what is going on and get educated. He is happy the Museum is doing the oral history project.