Reginald Johnston
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
Born in Toronto in 1894, Johnston received a degree in forestry from the University of Toronto in 1917. He then joined the Royal Flying Corps and took part in many bombing missions over Germany during the last year of the First World War. With hostilities over, Johnston joined Ontario’s newly established Department of Lands and Forests. During the Second World War, Johnston was seconded to the American army for a seven-month period during which he helped determine routing for the new Alaska Highway, a 2,451 km (1,523 miles) military supply route connecting Dawson Creek, British Columbia with Fairbanks, Alaska. Flying over mostly un-surveyed terrain, Johnston was able to map out the best route for the new highway and then assist construction engineers in the unenviable task of actual road building through the wilderness. Following the war, Johnston returned to the Department of Lands and Forests where he remained until his retirement in 1964.
Mike Filey
Mount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded