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 ...
}:-)4
She is a true hero and a fine person.
Classy lady. I like her a lot, and I'm glad that she made it home alive.
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
I agree, a great girl, a true hero.
Simple, she's not telegenic like Pfc. Lynch. She remembers her ordeal well, and would tell it truthfully, something the MSM can't have.
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.
"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.
oh Shoshana, don't you cry for me,
I come from Alabama with a M16 on my knee...
Wow....Shoshana Johnson is most definately a courageous lady!
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."
"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.
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