FORT BELVOIR, Virginia –
Editor’s Note: This article is based on papers sent by retired Army Col. Fredric Johnson’s son, Fredric Johnson II, to the DLA historians. These documents include Johnson’s nomination packet for induction into the Quartermaster Hall of Fame in 1992, letters of recommendation, a detailed obituary and various other items.
Retired Army Col. Fredric Johnson, who served as a U.S. Army Quartermaster officer and petroleum specialist for more than three decades, passed away Aug. 8.
He participated in combat as a petroleum officer in World War II, served in a key fuel position in Taiwan during the Korean War, and was the director of U.S. Army Petroleum during Vietnam. His final assignment before retirement in 1972 was as acting commander of the Defense Fuel Supply Center, Cameron Station, Virginia, the predecessor of Defense Logistics Agency Energy.
In this position, according to his 1992 Quartermaster Hall of Fame nomination packet, Johnson coordinated the activities of the center that conducted worldwide procurement of $1.5 billion annually for bulk and packaged petroleum products is support of all military and major civil agencies of the U.S. government.
Throughout his military career and, later, civilian government service, Johnson made significant and unique contributions to “fueling the force.”
Johnson’s outstanding service in the petroleum field are worth recounting, and can serve as a model of dedication and expertise to today’s military and civilian energy professionals.
Born in 1918 in Chicago, Johnson joined the Illinois National Guard in 1938. He was mustered into the U.S. Army at Camp Lee, Virginia, in September 1941 – two months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into World War II. After attending Officer Candidate School, the newly commissioned Johnson became commander of the 3937th Gasoline Supply Company.
After extensive stateside training, Johnson’s company deployed to England and landed on the Normandy beaches after D-Day. His company’s initial mission was to provide fuel support to the First, Ninth, and Third Armies. In September 1944, Johnson was directed to supply fuel only to only those units participating in the ground support and link-up with airborne forces during Operation Market Garden, the airborne assault to seize key bridges over the Meuse and Rhine Rivers. Then-Capt. Johnson reportedly denied fuel to Army Lt. Gen. George Patton’s tanks in Third Army. Patton summoned Johnson and purportedly barked an order to the junior officer to supply the gasoline. Johnson produced his written orders showing he could not, signed by Army Gen. Dwight Eisenhower.
During the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 to January 1945, a German V-1 flying ‘buzz” bomb, carrying a highly-explosive warhead, hit a large U.S. fuel depot near Liege, Belgium. Short of personnel, Johnson commandeered recently-captured German soldiers to help put out the extensive fire and save the precious fuel. For this quick-thinking and valorous act, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with “V” device. He was also selected to serve as chief operations officer for all petroleum operations in northwest Europe supporting the warfighter.
After the war, Johnson served at the Pentagon where he was responsible for preparing the U.S. Army Petroleum budget for Congress. He was then selected to become the first permanent petroleum instructor at the Army Quartermaster School at Camp Lee, Virginia, which became Fort Lee in 1950.
During the height of the Korean War, and amid fears of a communist invasion of Taiwan – the Nationalist Chinese government had been driven from mainland China to Taiwan only in December 1949 – Johnson was a member of the newly established Military Assistance Group to the Republic of China on Taiwan. Using his petroleum expertise, Johnson supervised the building of tank farms and terminals and laid the groundwork for the construction of a 260-mile pipeline.
In 1955, Johnson became U.S. NATO Pipelines Europe’s chief of operations, and was instrumental in the construction of the NATO pipeline through France and Germany, a key fuel conduit during the Cold War.
Next, Johnson returned to Fort Lee as director and instructor in the Petroleum Department, before again heading overseas to put into practice the lessons he had taught young Quartermaster officers.
From 1960 to 1964, he managed the operation of a 626-mile pipeline supporting U.S. and Canadian military forces in Alaska British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. In 1964, the destructive “Great Alaska Earthquake,” measuring 9.2 on the Richter scale, struck. Johnson’s tremendous efforts stabilized the pipeline and ensured a continuous flow of valuable fuel – and earned him the award of the Legion of Merit for his leadership.
After a short stint at the Pentagon, Johnson deployed to the Republic of Vietnam in 1967. Supporting the warfighter in combat operations, he served as U.S. director of petroleum operations, Vietnam. In this key position, he was responsible for the forecast, receipt, storage and distribution of more than 2.5 million gallons of fuel monthly for the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Johnson managed, as noted in his 1992 Quartermaster Hall of Fame nomination packet, “four separate operating elements of approximately 2,500 men, 77 petroleum, oil and lubrication installations, seven major airfields, 400 tank trucks, 15 barges, six small and one large tanker and 250 miles of combat pipeline.”
After Vietnam service, Johnson returned to the Quartermaster School at Fort Lee and served as director of the Petroleum Department. Leveraging his extensive combat and operational fuel experience and expertise, he revamped the curriculum to make it more practical. Focusing on petroleum operations, pipeline design, construction and maintenance, rail and truck distribution, and field operations, Johnson was later lauded for having effectively taught the next generation of petroleum logisticians, the colonels and generals, whose competence was repeatedly demonstrated during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf region.
Johnson’s outstanding military career, as mentioned previously, culminated as acting commander of the Defense Fuel Supply Center, the predecessor of DLA Energy. After his 1972 military retirement, Johnson continued his government service as a civilian for eight years, mainly with the Federal Energy Administration and in the establishment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Program.
By the time he retired from the civil service in 1980, Johnson had served for almost four decades, in uniform and as a civilian, and in peace and war, in increasingly responsible petroleum specialist and leadership positions, dedicated to national defense and “fueling the force.”
Johnson was deservedly inducted into the U.S. Army Quartermaster Hall of Fame 1992. At the time he was considered, according to Army Brig. Gen. Stephen M. Bliss, then the Defense Fuel Supply Center commander, as “living Quartermaster Corps history.”