TEARS FOR HERO
Funeral for fallen GI in Don spat
Finally, a day of peace and dignity came for this fallen American hero.
Friends and loved ones paid solemn final respects Saturday to US Army Sgt. La David Johnson, whose death in Niger played out last week as a down-andnasty political battle between President Trump and a Florida congresswoman.
About 1,200 mourners inside Christ the Rock Community Church in Cooper City, Fla., shared fond memories of Johnson, 25, at a ceremony that memorialized a life cut too short.
Those who spoke at the funeral didn’t mention the political spat that’s surrounded his death.
“He wanted a better life for his family and that’s what he did,” Johnson’s best friend Donald Young told fellow mourners, according to the Sun Sentinel newspaper of Fort Lauderdale.
Young managed to draw some laughs from mourners, recalling fun details of Johnson’s life.
“He was the only guy I knew who took off on a 7- or 8-mile run and come back and hydrate with sweet tea,” Young said. “You’re gonna be missed, man.”
The soldier’s slain buddies were also remembered in the heartbreaking ceremony.
Johnson’s portrait was displayed near photos of Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, 35, of Puyallup, Wash., Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, 39, of Springboro, Ohio, and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, 29, of Lyons, Ga.
Their deaths in Africa on Oct. 4 have been shrouded by the ugly feud between Trump and Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), a longtime family friend of the Johnson family.
Trump was allegedly disrespectful to Johnson’s wife in a consoling phone call, saying the soldier “knew what he was getting into,” the widow and Wilson said last week.
The lawmaker was in the car with Johnson’s widow, Myeshia Johnson, when Trump called.
The president has strongly denied he was disrespectful and blamed Wilson for intruding in a private moment. Trump even enlisted Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, whose son died in combat in Afghanistan, to criticize Wilson.
“The call [to Johnson’s widow] was a very nice call,” Trump told Fox Business Channel in an interview to air Sunday.