Mon Jun 9, 2008 — by Aaron Rosenberg

Happy Birthday: Johnny Cloud

Three Cheers for the Navajo Ace!

Flying “Johnny” Cloud was a member of the Navajo tribe but little is known about his early life. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at the start of World War II and overcame racial prejudices with his superior skill as a pilot, quickly becoming known as “the Navajo Ace.”

When the commander of his unit died in battle against a squadron of Nazi bombers, Cloud became his successor and the unit was dubbed "The Happy Braves."

Cloud led the Happy Braves for several years, but during one failed mission his plane was shot down. He was rescued by the Haunted Tank, which picked up several other stray soldiers on the same run, and the strays banded together to form the misfit military unit the Losers.

They fought together until their final, fatal mission near the end of the war.

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