I know. I've got them all.
But in Halo 1 you knew he'd died because it made sense. First Strike was a fun read but it set the stage for the worst aspect of Halo 2 and 3. Yes he had a few good lines, but he was symptomatic of a particular change in Halo's narrative for the worse. You could have replaced Johnson and Miranda [or Master Chief's Shitty Friends as a mate of mine refers to them] with a dozen or so other characters and the game would have been better for it. There are supposed to be millions of people in that army, why do you keep bumping into the same two, and why did the plot have to contrive to keep them breathing?
Johnson was good in Halo 1 because he was believably mortal.
Miranda could have been good in Halo 2 if the last you saw of her was when she boarded the In Amber Clad halfway through Cairo Station.
They both removed the need for other more believable characters to be onscreen.