MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – We met the Johnson family during their darkest days. The family, shattered, after having to do what no parent should – bury a child.
“That was the worst day I have ever experienced,” Cowanda Johnson said.
It’s been five years since Sgt. LaDavid Johnson, 25, was killed in an ambush attack in Niger. It was his second tour of duty with the army and he boldly took on the mission. The summer of 2017 would be the last time his family would see him alive.
His body would return home to South Florida for a final time. His pregnant grieving widow Myeshia Johnson wept over his casket, agonized over her loss.
“I miss my baby,” Cowanda Johnson, LaDavid’s mother said.
While five years seems to have passed by in the blink of an eye, the pain still feels the same for her.
“I thought maybe over the years it would get better, and better, and better, but it hasn’t gotten better for me,” Cowanda Johnson said.
“Every day I cry,” she said. “Sometimes I go in my office and I scream, sometimes I ask God why, which I shouldn’t question, but I do. I just trying to understand this missing piece, like what went wrong on this mission?”
She asks herself that question all the time. According to the Pentagon, suspected members of ISIS are to blame for killing him and three other soldiers, saying Sgt. Johnson came under overwhelming enemy machine gun fire preventing him from entering his military vehicle. He fired his weapon until he ran out of ammunition, sacrificing his life for his soldiers.
“They really put up a fight for their country,” Cowanda Johnson said. “They did what they had to do to try and keep everyone alive.”
Due to Johnson’s courageous efforts, he’s been posthumously honored. A wall in the Johnson home proudly displays how Sgt. Johnson has been recognized by the army since his death. He’s been awarded the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and been named an honorary Green Beret just to name a few.
“He sacrificed his life for the Green Berets,” Cowanda Johnson said. “He didn’t make it out, the Green Berets did.”
The greatest accomplishment to Sgt. Johnson was being a father. At the time of his death, he left behind two small children, Alicia and LaDavid, Jr., and a third on the way. His wife was six months pregnant with his daughter LaShay when he died.
“LaShay is 4 now, will be 5 soon,” said Richshawnda Johnson, LaDavid’s sister. “LaDavid (Jr.) is doing well, he likes football. Alicia is in cheerleading.”
The Johnson’s do everything they can to remind the children of their father.
“He stood for them. If he was here, he would have been one great dad,” she said.
They also take the children to Johnson’s gravesite. Cowanda Johnson is always maintaining it and it’s where she says she has peace.
“I don’t cry when i get there. I actually talk to him and talk to him about the kids,” she said.
Sgt. Johnson had captured Local 10′s attention before he enlisted and was known in the community as the charming, Wheelie King, who could be seen doing tricks on his bicycle.
“It’s been 5 years, but his legacy is going to continue, his legacy is going to live through his mom, his dad, his wife, his children, his siblings,” Cowanda Johnson said. “We are going to continue the name, we are going to continue the best way we can.”