It took more than 11 years and multiple appeals to the Pentagon, but on Monday Billy Johnson was recognized with the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom for his courage, valor and sacrifice during an attack in Iraq.
The explosion claimed the lives of four others riding in the lead vehicle Johnson was in to help secure rebuilding work being done by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Johnson, now living in Chattanooga at age 51, was surrounded by his family when he was presented the prestigious military honor by Army Major General Mark Toy, the commanding officer for the Corps of Engineers’ Great Lakes and Ohio River division.
“It is a long overdue recognition,” Toy said during a ceremony at the Corps’ Chickamauga Lock.
Johnson, who served four years in the Marines including a tour in Kuwait before working as a police officer and contractor for the U.S. Department of State, was serving on a security detail supporting a Corps of Engineers mission in Iraq on December 9, 2007, when an improvised explosive device struck his vehicle. None of his four other crew mates survived, and Johnson lost part of a hand and a leg in the attack and still carries hundreds of pieces of shrapnel in his body.