As we walk the familiar streets of Sayville, it’s easy to pass the corner of Lakeland and Johnson Avenue without realizing the weight of history standing right there in stone. For this week’s flashback, we’re looking back at a poignant moment in 1991 when our town gathered to honor one of our own who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Carl A. Johnson was just 23 years old, a young man from Sayville with his whole life ahead of him, when he was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor while serving at Hickam Field. In 1991—marking the 50th anniversary of that “date which will live in infamy”—Islip Town dedicated a memorial boulder at the corner of the street that now bears his name.
The original *Newsday* report captured the dedication ceremony, featuring Carl’s brother, Joe Johnson, alongside Jack Flatley and Chris Bodkin. It serves as a powerful reminder of the deep roots and enduring spirit of our alumni community.
**Read the original Newsday Newspaper Report below:**
Newsday, Suffolk Edition, Sunday November 24, 1991.
**In Honor of a Fallen Hero**
**Town to unveil memorial for man killed in attack on Pearl Harbor**
*Originally published in Newsday, Nov 24, 1991*
It was a Sunday afternoon, and the Brooklyn Dodgers were playing the New York Giants. In Sayville, the Johnsons were huddled around the radio listening to the (…) game when the broadcast was interrupted for an urgent announcement: Pearl Harbor had been attacked.
Three days later, a telegram informed the family that 23-year-old Carl A. Johnson, a mechanic in an Army air squadron at Hickam Field had been wounded. Weeks later, the War Department updated the news: Carl had been killed.
This Dec. 7, 50 years later, Islip Town will dedicate a memorial to Johnson, the only resident known to have been killed at Pearl Harbor…
The memorial, a boulder that will carry a bronze plaque, is located on Lakeland Avenue in Sayville, at the corner of a street that already bears the hero’s name, Johnson Avenue.
“We’re commemorating many things here — not just Carl Johnson, but Pearl Harbor and World War II,” said Chris Bodkin… “That was probably the most memorable day in the last fifty years.”
