Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Then and Now: Shoshana Johnson
CNN.com ^ | 23 May 2005 | Unattributed

Posted on 05/24/2005 9:36:10 AM PDT by Moose4

(CNN) -- In March 2003, when her battalion was ambushed in Iraq, Spc. Shoshana Johnson became America's first black female prisoner of war. Today, Johnson is out of the military, but she shares her story in lectures across the country.

Americans were first introduced to Johnson -- a U.S. Army cook with the 507th Maintenance Company out of Fort Bliss, Texas -- early in the war when videotape of her interrogation with her Iraqi captors was broadcast worldwide on television.

During the gruff interview, Johnson looked tense, her eyes darting quickly left, then right. Barely an hour before, she'd been shot in both ankles and captured along with five other soldiers, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who was badly wounded and was held prisoner at a separate location.

Nine of Johnson's fellow soldiers died in the standoff, including her close friend, Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, the first Native American woman killed in combat.

"I was terrified. I didn't know what was going to happen to me," Johnson recalled in a recent CNN interview. "And I was in a lot of pain."

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iraq; johnson; pow; shoshana
Update on PFC Shoshana Johnson, who was taken prisoner in the ambush of the 509th Maintenance Company early in the Iraq war two years ago. Found it interesting.

}:-)4

1 posted on 05/24/2005 9:36:15 AM PDT by Moose4
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Moose4

She is a true hero and a fine person.


2 posted on 05/24/2005 9:41:55 AM PDT by Old Grumpy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Moose4

Classy lady. I like her a lot, and I'm glad that she made it home alive.


3 posted on 05/24/2005 9:43:42 AM PDT by SoKatt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Old Grumpy

Odd that the MSM is keeping this gal at arms length. I suspect she wouldn't help advance their agenda of dissing the military and President Bush


4 posted on 05/24/2005 9:44:33 AM PDT by shadeaud (Liberals suffer from acute interior cornial craniorectoitis)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SoKatt

I agree, a great girl, a true hero.


5 posted on 05/24/2005 9:47:08 AM PDT by RolandBurnam (I WANT SOME PORK RINDS!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: shadeaud

Simple, she's not telegenic like Pfc. Lynch. She remembers her ordeal well, and would tell it truthfully, something the MSM can't have.


6 posted on 05/24/2005 9:48:52 AM PDT by Clock King
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Moose4

Shoshana Johnson
7 posted on 05/24/2005 9:52:15 AM PDT by rabidralph
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Moose4

Shoshana was the prisoner I prayed hardest and longest for. She's a darned fine human being and her family is exemplary -- immigrants from Latin America who speak perfect English and have made very successful careers in the Armed Services.


8 posted on 05/24/2005 9:56:13 AM PDT by Veto! (Opinions Freely Dispensed as Advice)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shadeaud
But Lynch got a million-dollar book deal and more in disability payments from the military than Johnson. Some said it was an issue of race, but Johnson wasn't one of them. And she says reports that she and Lynch were at odds aren't true.

"Everything happens for a reason," she told CNN. "I've had a lot of good fortune. I'm healthy. My family's healthy: my daughters, my nieces. I don't ask God for anything more than that."

Three guesses as to why they don't put her on a pedestal.

9 posted on 05/24/2005 10:16:59 AM PDT by Littlejon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Moose4

oh Shoshana, don't you cry for me,
I come from Alabama with a M16 on my knee...


10 posted on 05/24/2005 11:06:57 AM PDT by Rakkasan1 (The MRS wanted to go to an expensive place to eat so I took her to the gas station.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Moose4

Wow....Shoshana Johnson is most definately a courageous lady!


11 posted on 05/24/2005 11:14:04 AM PDT by Arpege92 ("I am happy, be it yourselves." - Pope John Paul II)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Moose4
Sounds like a soldier with HONOR to me. She has to know she is giving up millions to be a voice for the MSM and the LEFT, if only she would come out against he war, the SecDef and the C-in-C.

It is to her everlasting honor and credit that she says, like every WWII vet I have ever met.

"We are not heroes, we did our duty and we came home alive."

12 posted on 05/24/2005 11:14:24 AM PDT by PISANO (We will not tire......We will not falter.......We will NOT FAIL!!! .........GW Bush [Oct 2001])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PISANO

"Sounds like a soldier with HONOR to me."

She definitely is honorable. This country should be proud to have people like her in the military.


13 posted on 05/24/2005 12:53:34 PM PDT by Old Grumpy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson