Print This Story
Pfc. Howard Johnson's Last Words To Mom "I Love You."
 |
Johnson, 21, was a member of the 507th Maintenance Company of Ft. Bliss, which was ambushed Sunday near An Nasiriyah, 230 miles South of Baghdad.
Johnson, 62, said he and his wife, Gloria, have two daughters and had waited 17 years for a son.
Mrs. Johnson, her face wet with tears, said, "We had no idea war would break out and we would lose our son."
She spoke about the last time she saw her son alive.
"He hugged me. He walked back and he looked back at me and he stood there and he turned around and he looked back at me again and he hugged me and he said, 'Mama, I love you,'" Gloria Johnson said. "And then he turned back again and went to the door and he looked back, and that... I'll never forget that look on his face. It was like, 'I'm looking at my mama for the last time.'"
Friends and family members quietly moved in and out of the Johnson home Wednesday, sharing condolences and watching the soldier's basic training videotape on a big-screen TV. It showed him jogging through the woods with other soldiers.
"There he is!" relatives said, pointing to a smiling face on the video.
When his parents said goodbye on his last trip home in February, his father reminded him to conduct himself like a Christian.
"No matter what anybody else did -- drinking, doing drugs, what have you -- remember that he was not to partake of that. Keep yourself clean, so the Lord will be on his side."
He said his son was "prayed up" and prepared for the mission.
The pastor said he arrived home about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and noticed a military vehicle and police car outside his home.
"When I saw the Army officer, I knew what it was," Johnson said.
Johnson said the military officer told him his son had been killed in action, but offered no other details. He said he was told a second officer would come later with additional details.
Johnson said he had been watching the news reports about his son's unit. He watched for the names of the prisoners of war taken by the Iraqis.
"When that finally came out, I knew he was not among those. And then I knew that he had either been among those determined to be dead or missing. The only thing I could do was pray," Johnson said.
Johnson had hoped his son, who was in ROTC in high school, would attend technology college after graduation. His son went to the local mall and met an Army recruiter. After that conversation, his son chose active duty Army.
Johnson said he didn't like having his son in Iraq because he didn't agree with the war.
"I think it could have been handled differently. I know that we all are born to die, and sooner or later we will. I feel that sometime there can be better choices. For me, I think this could have been handled through a diplomatic approach with enough time. And maybe it could have been solved another way.
"I never believed two evils turn into one good."
Despite his father's views, his son accepted his Army duty.
"He told me, 'Daddy, I have to do it,"' he said. "Once he enlisted, he understood the role of a soldier. He never told me he agreed with the war. He told me he had to go because his unit was going."
The Johnsons last spoke to their son last week: "He was excited about treading on new grounds that he had never experienced before. He had never been out of the country."
Called "Junior" around the house, Pfc. Johnson worked at a grocery store during high school. He brought his friends' shoes home to shine them when they couldn't afford shoe polish.
Copyright 2003 by KFOXTV.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
