Comrades honor Carl Johnson

MOSUL, Iraq - Rare dark clouds obscured the desert sun Wednesday as Fort Lewis soldiers filed quietly into a recreation center to remember their slain brother.

Cpl. Carl Johnson II died last weekend in the cramped front compartment of the Stryker vehicle he drove in combat. He was 21.

"We lived it up back at Fort Lewis," said his close friend Pvt. Michael Williams.

"It's hard to realize he won't be there when we get back," Williams said

In some ways, memorial services in Iraq are similar to the ones at Fort Lewis several days later - the playing of taps, the reading of Scripture, the shedding of tears.

But there's one big difference: Some of these mourners had just returned from patrols in the same Mosul streets where Johnson died Saturday afternoon. Some would return to those streets within hours.

Johnson was killed by a roadside bomb. The force of the blast, likely rigged mortar rounds, propelled him out of his seat and broke his neck.

He was from Philadelphia and leaves behind his mother, Peggy Crocker, and his sister, Tisha Johnson.

"He worried about his mother and sister. He felt he needed to be near them, looking after them and taking care of them," said Johnson's squad leader, Staff Sgt. Kenneth Hoffman.

But Johnson also felt he needed to be in Iraq with his brothers in 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, Hoffman said. Some of those soldiers stared forward at the memorial, tears welling.

The men of Alpha Company said they loved Johnson because nothing could get him down. He was always joking and laughing, clearly in love with life, they said.

"Being around him always brought a smile to my face," said Hoffman, choking up and struggling to speak. "And I thank him for that. Because there were many times I needed it."

To make himself a top driver, Johnson learned everything he could about the eight-wheeled armored Stryker carriers, said his company commander, Capt. Jim Harbridge.

The sergeant major was so impressed, he threatened to take Johnson out of his unit and assign him to drive a command vehicle, Harbridge said.

Pvt. Williams said Johnson was like his younger brother. They would play around, talking smack, and would share everything they had, he said.

"He was my brother, and we will all miss him," Williams said.

The Army can find someone else to drive a Stryker, but it can't replace the loss of Johnson's gladness, said the chaplain, Maj. Tom McCort.

"His death reminds us that none of us is guaranteed another day here," McCort said.

The chaplain told those gathered in the recreation center that God is here for their sadness and will give them refuge from their fears.

"In our fear, He will be our comfort," the chaplain said. "In our anxiety, He will be our peace."

Johnson was the third soldier from his battalion, and the seventh from the larger brigade, to die since they deployed in July.

The sun had broken through the clouds by the time the last soldier paid tribute Wednesday. There was a deep orange sunset over the ancient northern city, where the Fort Lewis soldiers would soon return to the streets.

From the Olympian

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Carl Johnson killed by roadside bomb