USS LEXINGTON Former Crew Member

Name: Johnson, Carlton Roy

Service Dates: 11 April 1975 - July 1977

Rank/Duty Assigned: LCDR/First Lieutenant, Head of the Deck Department

I shared breakfast and talked with actor Charlton Heston in April 1975 when he spent a week at sea while filming the movie “MIDWAY”. In April 1976, I assisted in the recovery of an escape capsule from the oil drilling barge “Ocean Express”. Unfortunately it had overturned during the hurricane wind and waves and all thirteen men inside perished. January 1977, ABC television hosted boxing matches on the flight deck with promotor Don King, broadcast by Howard Cossell with boxing great Joe Lewis introduced to the crew. I experienced being catapulted from the flight deck and being “trapped” aboard in the ship’s COD aircraft. I also qualified as “Underway Command Duty Officer”. First Lt., Deck Department Head