"Advice has been received by Mr. Allan C. Johnson, of 477 Great South Road, Ellerslie, that his younger son, Sergeant-Gunner Gerald Bruce Johnson, Royal Air Force, was killed in a flying accident in Kent on May 28.

Sergeant-Gunner Johnson, who was 21, was born at Raetihi and educated at the Alfriston and Belmont Schools. He volunteered for service in the Air Force immediately on the outbreak of  war and entered the ground training school at Levin in December, 1939. sailing for England in the following March. On arrival he was selected with four other New Zealanders for special training, and all his subsequent service was in night fighters. Sergeant-Gunner Johnson had considerable success at Rugby football, playing for the Royal Air Force against a number of Army teams, including one from the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. His only brother is in training with the artillery at Papakura Camp."

[New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23981, 3 June 1941, Page 6]