The man who will soon be planning combat missions for coalition troops throughout Iraq received his second star during a promotion ceremony at Fort Lewis.

Maj. Gen. John Johnson, the deputy commanding general for operations for I Corps, will deploying this spring with the rest of the unit to take over day-to-day operations in Iraq. He’ll be in charge of making sure an array of missions, from combat operations to helping Baghdad restore essential services, work in harmony.

And on Thursday at the Cascade Community Club on post, Johnson received a promotion post commander Gen. Charles Jacoby called “breaking away from the pact.” Johnson appeared to struggle to suppress a smile as Jacoby and Johnson’s wife pinned the stars on his shoulders.

“It’s very humbling,” Johnson said after the ceremony. “You grow up in the Army and see all these icons that you respect, that help you along. And one day, you turn around and you’re there.”

But, he added, a second star doesn’t automatically elevate him to that icon status.

“Being an icon means you gotta get out and earn it,” he said. “I gotta step up and do all the things these guys expect me to do.”

More than a dozen Japanese-American veterans, most from World War II and the Vietnam War, attended the ceremony. Johnson told the crowd that the men are a “hugely important part of our nation’s history.” He started a relationship with Japanese-American veterans groups while stationed at Fort Stewart, and he invited them to Thursday’s ceremony.

“When you want to associate soldiers with true heroes,” he said, “these are the guys you call on.”

Johnson is a 31-year member of the Army and deployed to Iraq as a brigade commander with the 1st Armored Division in 2003. He has since worked as an assistant commander of the 2nd Infantry Division and the deputy commanding general for the Army’s Morale, Family, Welfare and Recreation Command.

He arrived at Fort Lewis in August.