Robert Johnston (naval officer)
Robert Johnson, who as a teenager traveled to Antarctica on a thick-hulled wooden ship with Adm. Richard Byrd, died Sunday in Jacksonville. He was 102. He was the last survivor of any of Byrd's pre-World War II polar journeys, which caught the public imagination and made the explorer a much-decorated national hero. His death was confirmed by Stan Jordan, a family friend and former state representative and Duval County School Board chairman. "What a great American," said Jordan, who had hosted Mr. Johnson's 102nd birthday celebration at his restaurant, Beach Diner, in Atlantic Beach. "He was a piece of Naval history."