The centurion Dambuster
Last survivor of daring WW2 raid celebrates his 100th birthday
THE last survivor of the Dambusters raid celebrated his 100th birthday yesterday with a party and a cake.
Squadron Leader George ‘Johnny’ Johnson was a bomb-aimer during the daring Operation Chastise.
Mr Johnson was 22 when he took part in the 1943 attack.
It targeted dams in the Ruhr Valley in Germany’s industrial heartland, releasing huge quantities of water into areas used by the Nazis for war production.
During the raid, Mr Johnson hit the Sorpe dam with one of Barnes Wallis’s special ‘bouncing bombs’, which the airman described as ‘glorified dustbins’.
He celebrated the milestone birthday at his care home in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, with a party for family yesterday.
Mr Johnson, who was born in Lincolnshire, said being a Dambuster was a ‘thrilling experience’ and he felt ‘honoured to have had the chance to take part’.
He continued to serve in the RAF until 1962, rising to the rank of squadron leader.
He then became a primary school teacher and later taught patients at Rampton secure hospital in Nottinghamshire. Mr Johnson and his wife Gwyneth, who had three children, moved to the South West after his second retirement. Gwyneth died in August 2005.
He was made an MBE in 2017 after a long-running campaign which was supported by celebrities including TV’s Carol Vorderman.