Carl Johnson killed by roadside bomb

Carl Johnson II was excited by his brush with British royalty four years ago.

But what thrilled the young man from Wissinoming most was the idea of becoming a soldier and driving a tank.

And then coming home to go to college. And ride a motorcycle.

Johnson, 21, won't be able to realize those dreams.

A defensive end on the Simon Gratz High School football team who saw England's Prince Andrew when the Duke of York visited the school in 2002, Johnson was killed Saturday when a military vehicle he was driving was destroyed by a roadside bomb in Iraq, according to his aunt, Patricia Williams.

By late yesterday, the Defense Department had not yet released the identification of the service personnel killed in Iraq over the weekend or details of how they had died. But the military notified Johnson's family over the weekend of his death.

Williams said the grief that her sister, Peggy Johnson Crocker, felt was deepened by the fact that Carl Johnson was her only son. She also has three daughters. His father died before Johnson was born.

"He [Carl] became her pride and joy," Williams said. She said Johnson's mother believed that the military shouldn't send an only son to a war zone.

Crocker last spoke to her son by e-mail on Friday night, said Williams, who has a son in the Air Force, although not in Iraq.

"He [Carl] was just saying he was getting ready to go on a mission," Williams said.

"He told her to start looking for a motorcycle for when he comes home," Williams said. "He wanted to serve. He wanted to be a soldier to drive the tanks."

Johnson joined the service after graduating from Gratz in 2003 and had been in Iraq since February. He was to come home in January, Williams said.

"He was looking forward to going back to school, to college," she said.

Gratz assistant coach Rich Kozlowski said Johnson was "a great kid, always happy and willing to help out the team." He experienced the thrill of making an interception in a game against Dobbins Tech.

Johnson saw Prince Andrew when Andrew visited Gratz to launch an international-education fund to help students stay in school. He told reporters he thought the program "will open up opportunties for scholarships and other things."

Johnson's aunt said he was "pretty much a really funny guy. He liked to laugh and liked to joke... He liked to be happy."

From the Philadelphia Daily News