Johnston Atoll

The following note appears in the ALPCA archive regarding these plate

NOTE! THESE PLATES ARE NOT LEGITIMATE; I have recently made contact with the man who was in charge of the entire operation on Johnston Island two years prior to its evacuation by the Navy. His name is Ben Janacek and he has a site on the Web if you care to consult it. These plates were made up as souvenirs and were never ever used. As part of a promotional scam they were placed on some vehicles, photographed, and then removed. In particular some versions with "FIRE" and "POLICE" were made and similarly photographed so they could be sold to collectors.
Identification of vehicles on Johnston Island was accomplished in 3 ways., Sometimes a DOD number was painted right on the vehicle. In some cases U.S. Government plates were issued and these were similar to all other U.S Government plates. Lastly some vehicles which were barged to the island retained their original jurisdictional plates – in most cases from Hawaii.
Collectors are warned to beware of buying these plates unless they collect booster or Souvenir type plates. They WERE NEVER USED ON THE ISLAND.


Current Johnston Atoll plate. Image sent by Peter Cohen of Pleasanton, California

Click on plates for larger images

Images sent by Karl Denhart of Ocala, Florida. (June 2003) Johnston Atoll License plates are being used on the official vehicles. Karl notes,"I have pictures of these beautiful plates on the police cars and the base commander's car. There are only a small number of vehicles on the island and the plates are on police, fire, base commmander vehicle and some other vehicles. Remember the island is 3/4 mile wide and 2 miles long it has one road (and even it is not all paved) The population of the island is down to less than 800 as the base is closing and buildings are being demolished as we speak. The nerve gas plant is currently being torn down. The plate is a based on the official flag which is also recognized internationally."

Below are images of a police truck and fire truck on Johnston Atoll with the type of plates shown above.