[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 19753-19754]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  IN RECOGNITION OF MR. ALBERT JOHNSON

 Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. President, I rise to recognize the ongoing 
efforts of my friend and fellow Tennessean, Mr. Albert Wm. Johnson of 
Nashville. Mr. Johnson is chairman and CEO of Dobson & Johnson 
Financial, a leading national mortgage banking advisory firm since its 
founding in 1955.
  Let me say that Albert Johnson continues to enjoy a remarkable life. 
Upon graduation from college, he entered the

[[Page 19754]]

military service as an aviation cadet en route to a distinguished 
military career. Mr. Johnson flew 49 missions against German bombing 
targets in WW II before being shot down in Austria and becoming a 
prisoner of war, POW, until the end of the conflict. During his World 
War II service, Al Johnson accumulated numerous decorations, citations, 
and commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, DFC, with 
two Oak Leaf Clusters. After the war, Mr. Johnson was a senior 
instructor assigned to assist the Tennessee Air National Guard until 
returning to Europe to again serve with notable commendation on the 
NATO staff responsible for planning Germany's integration into NATO.
  Upon leaving active military service, Albert Johnson returned to 
Nashville and cofounded Dobson & Johnson, thereby embarking on a 
brilliant business career that has featured the holding of billions of 
dollars in residential mortgage loans in trust for State mutual saving 
banks, insurance companies, pension funds, and private investors. His 
remarkable leadership in the mortgage banking and real estate industry 
has received well-deserved national acclaim and his firm has been 
recognized as one of the largest private business enterprises in 
Nashville.
  In 1994, for his ``commitment to free enterprise, limited government, 
traditional American values and strong National Defense,'' Albert 
Johnson received the Medal of Freedom from the National Republican 
Senatorial Campaign Committee thereby joining the ranks of other 
distinguished recipients of that award, including former President 
Ronald Reagan, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and 
Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf.
  Recently, I have been advised that Mr. Johnson has embarked on a new 
undertaking that features a joint venture whose mission is to build 
20,000 private homes in Kabul, Afghanistan, using imported capital, 
local Afghanistan labor and materials, and fully funded mortgage loans 
with no down payment and long-term rates to assist that country in 
developing their infrastructure. This sounds like a daunting task. 
Nevertheless, Albert Johnson of Nashville has a track record to suggest 
he is the right man for the job.
  There is very little that Mr. Johnson, an embodiment of American 
values, has not been able to achieve. To the extent that his ongoing 
efforts foster stability and peace in strife torn Afghanistan, I wish 
him well.

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