# 14
Hometown: Mount Sterling, KY
Position: G Playing Height: 6-0 Playing Weight: 165
Date of Birth: October 30, 1925
Date of Death: July 30, 1945
Additional Photos: (1) (2)
Action Photos: (1) (2) (3)
Game by Game Statistics
Season Notes:
1943-44: (Called up midseason to the Navy. [MIA in Pacific])
Post-UK Career Notes:
Served in the Military
Season | Games Played | FG | FT | FTA | % | F | Total Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1943-44 | 12 | 30 | 14 | 24 | 58.33 | 28 | 74 |
Total | 12 | 30 | 14 | 24 | 58.33 | 28 | 74 |
Obituary - Former Wildcat Cager Died During Sinking, Lexington Herald (September 21, 1945)
MT. STERLING, Ky., Sept. 20 (Special) - Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Johnson Sr. today received a message from the War Department stating that their son, Walter Marion Johnson Jr., was killed in action on July 30. They previously were notified that their son was missing following the sinking of the cruiser Indianapolis.
Johnson was an outstanding athlete while attending Mt. Sterling high school and was a star guard on the University of Kentucky basketball team at the time of his enlistment in the Navy in January.
Biography - "K" Men Who Died in World War II, Kentucky Game Program (December 9, 1950)
JOHNSON, S l/c Walter Marion Jr., 19, A & S 1943-44, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Johnson of Mt. Sterling. Johnson was a star guard on the University of Kentucky basketball team when he entered the Navy in February, 1944.
After completing his training he was given sea duty as gunner's mate aboard the cruiser Indianapolis. After taking part in many of the major campaigns in the Pacific including Iwo Jima, Guam, the Philippines and Okinawa, he was reported missing when his ship was sunk by a Japanese submarine after delivering atom bomb supplies to Guam. In September Seaman Johnson was officially reported as killed in action.