By Bill Sterling —
Danny Johnson, an Eastern Shore native who graduated from Arcadia High School in 1989, spoke to a group of Eastern Shore Boys & Girls Club members recently, talking about his career as a Marine test jet pilot and a commander of a squadron that included 250 Marines and a dozen F-18 aircraft.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Johnson led over 300 hours of combat missions. Johnson, who was nominated by the Marines to be a NASA astronaut, told the youth, “Hard work beats natural ability, and although you can not control the circumstances you were born into, you can control your attitude.”
Johnson told the club members that he didn’t always have the best grades and sometimes failed at what he attempted, but those failures only made him work harder. Johnson brought his flight gear to the talk and let many of the members try it on.
Johnson, the son of the late Parker and Gloria Johnson, spoke to the Eastern Shore Christian Businessmen’s Association earlier that same day. Johnson now lives in Florida with his wife, the former Deanna Novack, of Wallops Island, and their two daughters.
