By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Part of Shawn Tyler Johnson's left shoulder was blown away while he was attempting to save a comrade in Vietnam.

The former Withrow High School track star lost use of that arm but was undaunted. He came home and accomplished his dream of becoming a bounty hunter in the West.

"Anything that held adventure - it drew Shawn like a magnet," his sister Bernice Marshall of North Avondale said. "Shawn was an explorer. I think that's what drew him into the kind of work he did."

Mr. Johnson, 56, died of multiple myeloma May 18 in Bullhead City, Ariz.

Growing up in Madisonville, he loved animals and adventure.

"Shawn would bring everything home - horses, crippled dogs with three legs," his sister said. "He was just free-spirited - such a mustang type. We called him the 'Wild One.'

"The setting of his home in Bullhead is rugged and wild - all of the things that you connect with the Wild West. That's what Shawn was about."

A member of Withrow's track team during the mid-1960s, he was "one of the fastest runners in the city," his sister said.

He married soon after his 1966 graduation and worked at several jobs to support his growing family. Then the Army drafted him in 1968.

After basic training at Fort Benning, Ga., he was shipped to Vietnam.

Mr. Johnson qualified as an expert with the M-14 and M-16 rifles and received the Combat Infantry Badge and the Purple Heart.

His sister described what happened: "Out in combat in the field he was on detail at night and he was in a foxhole. He climbed out. His partner had gotten wounded and he heard him cry out, so he came out to go get him."

Enemy fire ripped away part of Mr. Johnson's left shoulder (he was left-handed) and shattered his collarbone.

Discharged after two months in the hospital, he returned to Madisonville and set about learning to use his right hand. While he never regained use of his left arm, he did rehabilitate it enough to move it slightly. Then he headed west to pursue his dream of entering law enforcement.

"He enjoyed tracking criminals," his sister said. "The biggest kick was when the city police could not solve a case (and) he was able to do that. They say he was the best criminal tracker they had out that way."

In addition to his sister, survivors include his wife, Nancy Johnson; four sons, Antonie, Monoleto, Nakia and Jewell Johnson, all of Riverside, Calif.; two daughters, Talonia Johnson and Teonna Prez also of Riverside; five brothers, Larry E. Hodge of Covington, Mark D. Johnson of San Bernardino, Calif., Kevin T. Johnson and Phillip M. Johnson, both of Bond Hill, and Timothy W. Johnsonof Fairfield; eight other sisters, Edna Nelson of North Avondale, Yvonne Williams of Avondale, Tonja McCullar of Clifton, Suenita Johnson of Westwood, Blanch Davis, Laverna Shanklin and Mary Elizabeth Johnson, all of Cleveland, and Majora Hackney of Detroit; and 26 grandchildren.

Mr. Johnson was buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, Calif. A memorial service is 11 a.m. Saturday at Johnson Brown Funeral Home, 1309 California Ave., Bond Hill.

Memorials: VA Medical Center, 3200 Vine St., Cincinnati 45220.

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com