Melvin Johnson

Who was Melvin Johnson?

Melvin Maynard Johnson Jr. was an American designer of firearms, lawyer, and US Marine Corps officer.

Born into an affluent Boston, Massachusetts family, he was commissioned into the Marine Corps Reserve in 1933 as a Second Lieutenant and completed Harvard Law school in 1934. Johnson designed a recoil-operated rifle while serving for the Marines as an observer at the Army's Springfield Armory in 1935. Johnson received four U.S. patents on various design features. He also designed the Johnson Light Machine Gun, derived from the M1941 rifle, which was used in limited numbers during World War II and the Auto carbine, also derived from the M1941 rifle and M1941 light machine gun.

Johnson's practice was to give all of his weapons a "pet" nickname:

M1941 rifle Betsy

M1941 light machine gun Emma

M1947 auto carbine Daisy Mae

In 1942, he co-authored Weapons for the Future, a book in The Infantry Journal series. Charles T. Haven of the Army Ordnance Corps was the other contributor. Johnson worked tirelessly to promote his rifle and machine gun throughout the war.

Johnson transferred to the Army Ordnance Corps Reserve from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1949 and rose to the rank of Colonel. In 1949, Winchester bought the Johnson Automatics corporation and employed Johnson for a short period. While at Winchester, Johnson was employed alongside "Carbine" Williams though it is unknown if they worked on the same projects.