Veteran's history project

Editor’s Note: This story is one of many American Veteran accounts published in the Sidney Sun-Telegraph. The writer, who is from Potter, is conducting the interviews as part of the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project.

Leland Johnston was a ranch kid working in the Nebraska Sandhills near Thedford. He had been doing that since he was about 12 years old. When he was 18 he tried to get into the Army Air Corps but was turned down by that branch of service. The draft board did not turn him down.

He went to Valentine, where he boarded a bus for Fort Crook, between southern Omaha...