Denny Layton Johnson

West Point, 1968

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Fr. Stephen Scott Chemino on May 23, 2014:

On Memorial Day 2014 Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church of Bunkie, Louisiana will offer a solemn tribute to this son of our community. Members of the various churches of the town will gather at Denny's gravesite at Pythian Cemetery in Bunkie to remember his life and offering as an outstanding Christian, soldier, son, and friend. I recall the day our town received the news that Denny had been mortally wounded in Vietnam. The entire community grieved with the Johnson family and waited to receive his body for services as First Baptist Church. Though I was only fourteen years old at the time, I remember standing across the street from the Baptist church as the entire community gathered to attend his funeral. There was no room left in the church and the crowd spilled onto the sidewalk and into the street. Many men openly cried as the coffin was taken into and later out of the church. It made a lifetime impression on me. Please know that we will gather this year to remember this outstanding young soldier who made his entire community proud of him in every stage of his life. So many of his classmates remember him and his name is not forgotten in the Bunkie community. May he fully share in the Promises of Christ and may his noble life be an inspiration to all who will remember this favored son of our town.

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