Before the Battle: Building the World of the JOHNSTON Film
Prefer to listen? Join me for an audio version of this story, with guest voices reading the crew’s recollections. Press play below, settle in, and spend a few minutes getting to know the men behind JOHNSTON. — Maya Bennett
By Maya Bennett | Temple Gate Films Publicist
Before a ship becomes history, somebody has to learn his way around her.
That thought keeps coming back to me as we develop the JOHNSTON film. In our first story, we paused over the faces. This time, I want to look at the world around them: the shipyard, the deck beneath their feet, and the small routines that helped strangers become shipmates.
The JOHNSTON film begins with people finding their feet
There is something hopeful about a launch photograph. The ship is there, but so much of her story is still unwritten. Looking at the people gathered beside the ways, I find myself wondering what each person hoped would come next.
William L. Blarr’s recollection brings us closer to those first months. In his own words:
“I was assigned to the USS Johnston at Bremerton, Washington where preparations for commissioning were underway. Shortly after commissioning on October 27, 1943, our shakedown cruise began. Most of us land-lovers got our sea legs after the usual problems.”
William L. Blarr, p. 16.
“The usual problems” does quite a bit of work there, doesn’t it? We can admire a sailor’s courage and still leave room for the young man learning what life at sea actually felt like. Confidence had to begin somewhere.
Even the captain needed a haircut
Edward Block reported to Seattle in September 1943 and turned twenty-five the following day. In his account, he calls himself a relatively old man when Johnston entered commission. Twenty-five. That little detail is worth sitting with.
His account also includes a meeting with Evans that I could not resist sharing:
“Having been a barber on the Medusa, I was automatically nominated as ship’s barber on the Johnston. I gave Captain Evans a haircut in the upstairs office of SeaTac. He complimented me on giving him such a good haircut, I remarked, I had to because he was the Captain.”
Edward Block, p. 17.
I smiled at that exchange. It lets us meet them in a different setting: a captain in need of a trim, and a sailor determined to get it right. You can almost hear the good humor in Block’s reply.
These are the moments that make me want to keep reading. A familiar bit of humor can bring a person closer than another paragraph of accomplishments.
The work between the moments
Block also describes the ordinary duties that filled his days:
“My job aboard ship was about the same as all Coxswains. Cleaning, scraping paint, repainting, etc. I had charge of the second section of the first division.”
Edward Block, p. 18.
There is a whole working day inside that recollection. Someone had to care for the spaces everyone depended on. The ship was a shared responsibility, and that responsibility continued between the events that would eventually fill the history books.
For our film, these recollections help us ask practical questions. Where would a man be working? Who would need to pass him? What would he carry, and where would he put it? A setting starts to feel inhabited when the people in it have something to do.
From a photograph to a place
The working diagram above gives you a small peek at that process. It helps us consider where people might stand and how a camera could find them. The historical photographs guide the work; the diagram keeps our staging questions visible while we develop the scene.
The dates on our references matter, too. The shipyard aerial shown here is from 1945. It can help us study the yard, but it cannot tell us exactly what was present on Johnston’s commissioning day in 1943. Each image has a part to play, and we need to understand what it can actually show us.
At the end of his account, Blarr looks forward to the yearly reunion with his old shipmates and friends. After the training, the work, and all the years that followed, those relationships still mattered. That is the world we want audiences to feel as JOHNSTON takes shape.
What small story makes someone in your family come alive for you? A first day at work, a running joke, a task they always did a certain way? Tell us in the comments. I would love to hear the detail that never makes it into an official biography. — Maya
Bring a little JOHNSTON to your next coffee break. Our 15-ounce ceramic mug is available below. — Maya
Source credit: All three excerpts are from The Fighting and Sinking of the USS Johnston DD557: As Told by Her Crew (September 1991), written and coordinated by Bill Mercer; edited and published by Bob Chastain; printed under the auspices of the Johnston/Hoel Association. William L. Blarr, printed p. 16; Edward Block, printed pp. 17–18. Quoted wording checked against the supplied scan.
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