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thedrifter
01-20-06, 06:40 AM
Retired Marine donates golf supplies to local servicemembers
MCB Camp Pendleton
Story by Lance Cpl. Ray Lewis

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Jan. 19, 2006) -- Butch Johnson, a retired Marine, is doing all he can so young Marines have a better quality of life.

Instead of opening a local golf shop, stocked with golf equipment he had collected over the years, Johnson decided to donate the items to Marines.

“When Butch Johnson approached Camp Pendleton community relations with his desire to donate, I knew it was a great thing because Marines who deployed to Iraq would benefit from those clubs,” said Camp Pendleton community relations chief Staff Sgt. Jesus A. Lora.

Johnson gave away 40 sets of golf clubs along with pull carts, hats, shoes and shirts to Marines here.

“This type of support fosters the relationship between our civilian community and military servicemembers,” Lora said.

Johnson, who retired as a gunnery sergeant, also played golf and had dinner with the Marines.

“When I was a (private first class) I couldn’t afford clubs,” said Johnson, who only made about $18 after all the allotments and bills.

As a child, Johnson lived in a crowded space in Astoria Ore., with six other people above his family’s grocery store and meat market.

He was only six years old when he started working in his father’s butcher shop.

Life worsened for the Johnson family when the electrical wiring within his building sparked a fire and destroyed all of his family’s belongings.

His family was forced to move with no business or income.

To lift some weight off his family’s shoulders, Johnson decided to leave for Marine Corps Recruit Training in 1956 at the age of 17.

As a veteran of the Vietnam War, Johnson understands the hardships faced by loved ones left behind.

Johnson gave a personal set of clubs to a Marine’s husband who he met one day on a golf course.

“His wife’s going to Iraq for a year,” said Johnson, who served in Vietnam in 1969.

“I wanted to give something back to the Marine Corps,” said Johnson, now a resident of Vista.

“(Marines) are out there making it safe for us,” said Eloise Johnson.

Both Butch and Eloise Johnson said giving is “just their thing.”

“It’s rewarding for us,” said Eloise Johnson.

The golf equipment was distributed to Marines, sailors and their dependents who participated in The San Marcos Country Club Golf Tournament Nov. 5, 2005.

More than 64 Marines attended the touranment, using the equipment, donated by Johnson.

The tournament was to honor the Marines who were deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Johnson’s contribution couldn’t have come at better time as each Marine and sailor participating in the tournament needed their own set of clubs.

Johnson’s donation totalled almost $8,000 and included 60 golf shirts and sweaters, 40 golf shoes, 65 individual golf clubs in addition to the numerous pull carts, golf hats and travel bags.