TROY — Judy Johnson of Sidney, will be the guest speaker at the Dec. 6, 2023, meeting of area veterans at the Miami Valley Veterans Museum, 2245 S. South County Road 25A in Troy, beginning at 9 a.m.

Johnson’s interest in veterans’ issues began when she was a young girl at the VFW in Piqua, helping with the canteen and assisting with Bingo. She was also listening, to stories told by the veterans who gathered there, including her father William Higgins who had served as a supply sergeant in England in World War II and later as commander of the Piqua post.

After graduating from high school, she took the written military tests in July of 1970 which indicated her area of expertise as medical corpsman.

She arrived for U.S. Army basic training at Fort McClellan and was tired and hungry, was given a peanut butter sandwich and rotten bananas, and then was greeted with four-letter words from her drill sergeant. She says she thought, Am I really gonna survive all this?

She not only survived: She triumphed, with her first reckoning of the impact of the Vietnam War when as an eighteen-year-old L.P.N . she attended to soldiers returning from that arena. She says, “They had burns. Some were amputee, and they had such anger. Four of them told me that if they had their legs back, they would go back to Vietnam and kill the SOB who did that to me.”

Johnson served 20 years and one month of active duty and two years of inactive duty in the U.S. Army. She currently serves on the Executive Board of American Legion Post 217, on the Shelby County Veterans Commission, the Sidney Veterans Honor Guard and as a volunteer for Miami County Hospice for Veterans, continuing to serve.

The museum opens at 8:30 a.m. for those who want dialogue with other veterans and coffee and pastries. Veterans and non-veterans are welcome to come and hear Johnson’s story of her service.