TOPEKA (KSNT) – For one local veteran, a dream of serving her country turned into more than three decades of service.
Marguerite Johnson spent 32 years in the Army, Army reserves and National Guard. She dedicated her career to helping soldiers through financial management. For as long as she can remember, Marguerite Johnson wanted to serve. At 18-years-old, she joined the army and began her multi-decade career in finance.
“I worked in finance all the time I was in the military,” Johnson said. “We help the soldiers with their travel voucher and we do contracting. We go help the soldiers when they go from deployment, military pay, help them with their stuff. And then when they come back from deployment, we help with the travel voucher part.”
During her time on active-duty, Johnson was stationed in Germany. After her deployment, she continued serving through the Army reserves and National Guard supporting service members from behind the scenes.
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“Being able to help out our soldiers and stuff, they come back from deployment and just see how grateful some people be, you know, for the job that we do, even though we in the background,” Johnson said.
Johnson said her military service taught her to be more patient and understanding of the challenges others might be facing.
“It changed me to be better. Look at other people’s situations. Not to judge everybody,” Johnson said. “Everybody got different problems and stuff. I tried to be more patient and learn what I need to do to help people out.”
Johnson officially retired as a sergeant first class after more than 32 years of service. Today, she still works for the Kansas Army National Guard in Topeka and hopes to do a few more years before retiring.
To nominate a veteran you know, send an email to veterans@ksnt.com.
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