Johnson-Phyllis-Navajo_004
Phyllis Johnson was born in Root, Arizona on a Navajo Reservation in Jan 1936. She grew up in an area west of Flagstaff, AZ. At the time, many of the people in the area worked three shifts building bombs for the military for World War II. Her senior year of high school in 1956, her cousin, a famous artist (R. C. Gorman) convinced her to make something of herself. She decided to join the Navy because she was interested in nursing. In September of 1956, she flew from LA to DC, then to Bainbridge, MD where she did her boot training. She was not selected for nursing (because of her high school performance) and instead went to personnel school. After personnel school, she was sent to Norfolk. She found Norfolk was hostile to her and minorities with some of them being placed in jail. She had a confrontation with another staff member that called her a “dirty Indian” and this led to a hearing and the delay of her orders to Hawaii. She decided to leave the Navy in 1959. She spent some time traveling to South Carolina, New York, and San Diego before heading home. She had four children, with one serving in the US Marines.
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