This page is dedicated to “Johnny Boy” –  by his sister Beatrix Pickard-Cambridge

Johnny Boy aka Gordon Johnston aka Gerhard Jansen was a Legionnaire in the French Foreign Legion. He served in 2e CIE Mountain Warfare, 2nd Regiment Etranger de Parachutistes  de Calvi, Corsica.  He left this world on 7 August 2011 while on tour in Afghanistan, Kapisa Province, Tagab Valley, Village Nawrozkhel.

He died a Hero in the Service of Peace and Freedom. His legacy has inspired many around the world to live their lives from a place of deeper meaning. He taught us about unconditional giving and love, courage beyond endurance and fear, and eternal friendship and brotherhood.

He was only 24.

My brother’s life, his incredible joy, his astonishing journey, his celebrations, and his valleys of death, has inspired this foundation.

Johnny Boy is the face of every youth who wants a better life, who wants to wake up to a benevolent universe, where hope and pure potential is the order of the day and endless possibilities abound.  A world where surviving becomes thriving.

 

“This is for you Johnny Boy, our son, our brother, legionnaire extraordinaire, friend for life, so that we will never forget how you changed our very existence and that freedom came at an insurmountable cost. “

Epitaph for a legionnaire killed in Afghanistan

Before your sun went down in the day sky

drowned in a rush of dust, blood-red at its going

in a place where it was ordinary to die

you did not choose to hazard our hearts’ breaking.

The future bonded, the present fateful, full

of hasty departures – roll-called before dawn –

to desert or jungle, to a hole in hell

where killing was customary and law unknown.

Nerves tensioned taut with sleight of soldiering,

walking always the high-wire across fear,

Your view so vivid that even the snow was burning

until a star-burst striped the darkness bare.

We must step aside, your death was yours to die,

passing to legend now, in La Legion’s honour

and you, in her heartland, carried shoulder high

between dipped flags, beneath the Tricolore.

                                                         In memory of Gerhard Jansen.

                                                         Also known as Johnston.

                                                         Also known as Johnny Boy.

Author: Finola Holiday