Donald Johnson honored for work on U.S.S. Arizona

Lincoln, Neb., July 11th, 2006 —

The lure of a challenge and the chance to use his skills outside the college classroom landed him as a volunteer in the National Park Service's Submerged Resources Program more than seven years ago. This year, he has been recognized for those skills as the recipient of the George B. Harztog Jr. Award for Outstanding Volunteer of the year.

Donald L. Johnson is a retired professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and resident of Eldora, Colo., and Sun City West, Ariz. He began volunteering for the National Park Service on a series of projects that have provided the service with sound, scientific information about the condition and continued possible deterioration of such valuable historic resources as the U.S.S. Arizona in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and a B-29 aircraft submerged in Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border.

"It has been a privilege and an honor for me to be a part of the U.S.S. Arizona Preservation Project. I was in high school in Wheat Ridge, Colo., throughout World War II, it has been special for me to use my background in such a way that I could combine science and engineering with history," said Johnson, a graduate of the Colorado School of Mines.

Johnson's work with the National Park Service began in 1998 as a tourist with a visit to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. That and an article in his hometown newspaper led to a conversation with park staff and ultimately offering his services to conduct metallurgical and corrosion analysis on the hull. Working with NPS staff and colleagues from Nebraska, Johnson helped to design and implement a corrosion monitoring program to determine corrosion rates on the hull of the Arizona. In addition, his research has been applied to a Japanese midget submarine submerged off the coast of Pearl Harbor and the Civil War Sub Marine Explorer in the Bay of Panama.

The Hartzog awards were established in 2002 to recognize the commitment of the service's most outstanding volunteers. During his nine years as director of NPS (1963-1972), George Hartzog created the Volunteers-In-Parks Program, which was born of the need for more qualified personnel at a time when the national parks were becoming increasingly popular. The program has expanded through the years. In 2005, 136,000 volunteers were active throughout the National Park System.

CONTACT:

Susan Garland, National Park Service, Intermountain Region, (303) 969-2839