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| All 3 Kids of Wounded Iraq Vet Die in Car Crash on Way to Visit Him in Hospital | |
| 2007-11-06 | |
| DALLAS — All three young children of a wounded Iraq veteran have died following a car accident that happened on their way to visit their father in a hospital. Three weeks after his two siblings died in the Oct. 13 accident, 9-year-old Tyler Johnson died Saturday at Children's Medical Center Dallas. Army Spc. John Austin Johnson was waiting for his wife, Lisa, and the children to visit him at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio when the crash occurred on Interstate 10 about 12 miles east of Ozona. Authorities said Lisa Johnson overcorrected the steering in her sport utility vehicle when she encountered a gust of wind on the drive from El Paso, and the vehicle rolled at least four times. Two-year-old Logan and 5-year-old Ashley died at the scene. Tyler suffered massive head injuries. The mother survived. Investigators blamed the accident on a combination of high speed, drowsiness and powerful wind, but said Lisa Johnson was driving at the speed limit. The three children were in the back seat. Logan was in a child seat, but the other two children were not wearing seat belts. A family spokesman, Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Schmidt, said the Johnsons were too upset to talk publicly. Johnson, who is stationed at Fort Bliss, survived five brushes with improvised explosive device blasts during two years in Iraq, Schmidt said last month. The latest caused a traumatic brain injury and he speaks with a severe stutter. I believe in God but stories like this make me ask "Why God?". I will read the book of Job tonight. My prayers are with this man and his family.
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| Posted by:Yosemite Sam |
| #19 See MVARIETY Op-Ed Tribute > THE AMERICAN WARRIOR by Dave Davis. FREEREPUBLIC is also doing a tribute to a Madison, WI soldier whom died in the ME but wanted to become a police officer like his father when he returned from duty [PATRIOT GUARD present]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-11-06 21:30 |
| #18 Perhaps some of the good that can be reclaimed from this tragedy is the object lesson: Make sure everyone in the car has their seat belt on. Gorb's thoughts and seatbelt ROEs: If my car is out of the driveway or parking space, everyone's seat belts are on. If I'm parked on the side of the freeway, everyone's seatbelts remain fastened because you can still get hit. Most so-called "high speed" crashes occur at under 30mph after the drivers hit their brakes. I heard a policeman say that he had never unbuckled a dead child. I once saw a slow-speed rollover that claimed the life of the driver. Some fog/light drizzle had put a skim of water on the ground that had just frozen and she wasn't aware of it. She was going to get her kid from daycare or something. She wasn't wearing a seat belt and she hit the steering wheel with her chest. She had a blood vessel torn from a lung. What struck me is that she didn't bring up the subject of her husband or kids. Unsecured passengers, tool boxes, and packages can kill you just as thoroughly as you could be killed by being thrown through a windshield and hitting a tree, the asphalt, or the oncoming vehicle at 30mph. Especially in a rollover. Secure those items, too. The driver has a steering wheel to hold onto, unlike the rest of the passengers. That fact kept an unbuckled friend of mine alive in a 100+ mph multiple end-over-end crash. He only broke his toe. His unbuckled passenger got ejected through the closed trunk. He only lived for a few minutes. What struck me as odd here is that before he died he claimed to be the driver so my friend wouldn't have to take the blame. My friend's parents got sued because the car or insurance was in their name. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-11-06 16:14 |
| #17 I read about this yesterday. Just awful. God challenges us all, but this is steep. I hope that the parents are still able, one day, to find the joy that remains in this world while they look forward to reuniting with their children in the next. Gort, my condolences to you as well. My parents and my step-mom each lost a child about one year apart. It still affects them, and all of us, every day. I was thinking this morning how much I miss my brother. And yet, I have the luxury of looking into the faces of my daughters and hearing their laughter, and it makes me smile. I would guess your other children give you the same. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2007-11-06 13:36 |
| #16 Gort, take comfort in the possibility that the heavenly trip their souls experience is far better than the selfish, materialistic, miserable experience of life on earth. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-11-06 12:56 |
| #15 My condolences to the Johnson family. Also, to you Gort. Well spoken Glotle. Last year I had a close call when my wife's minivan got rear ended by a kid driving his mothers sports car. He blew through a intersection to beat the light and hit the van. Because they were near the house, the children were starting to unbuckle their seatbelts when the van got hit. The van was stopped and was preparing to turn into the driveway behind the house. The impact destroyed the car and bent the van rear frame and shifted the rear axle in the van making the van undrivable. The van was a total loss, but other than being shook up, my wife and children did not suffer any injuries; neither did the other driver because of the airbags and seatbelt. I sweated the ride home that evening. The Police in the area where I work, contacted the Police where my wife and children live and confirmed that they were OK. I later wrote to the Police Chief thanking him and his staff for their help. |
| Posted by: Delphi 2007-11-06 11:27 |
| #14 Hear, hear. GORT, I can't even fathom the loss of a child, so my heart is with you. RIP little ones, and may I get 1/10th of the guardian angel that Spc. Johnson has. He survived 5 "brushes with IEDs"???? Jeebus, God was definitely on his side. Now, if only we could convince the muzzies to lay down arms because God (not Allan) is on our side. |
| Posted by: BA 2007-11-06 09:55 |
| #13 My heart goes out to you, GORT, and to Sgt. Schmidt and his family. |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie 2007-11-06 09:38 |
| #12 Sh!T happens, and entirely too often it happens to good people. The child in the car seat died, just as did those who were unbelted, which leads to the thought they would have died anyway, no matter how the mother had prepared. You've been in my thoughts and prayers for a while, GORT. I've got a gmail address now -- drop me a line if you'd like. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-11-06 09:00 |
| #11 Deepest sympathies Gort, for the little it's worth when compared to your loss. And that this last kid died is really sad, and so unjust. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-11-06 08:51 |
| #10 Sorry to hear it, Gort. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-11-06 08:29 |
| #9 I know how little time can heal such a loss, GORT. Please accept my deepest sympathies for what has befallen you. I hope your children can give you strength. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-11-06 08:28 |
| #8 I have lost both my wife and my middle son. Some days I forget I've been widowed. There is never a day that I don't miss my son. There is no pain like losing a child and no one deserves this kind of tragedy. BUT - those kids should have been hooked into their seat belts. My have made a difference. . . |
| Posted by: GORT 2007-11-06 08:09 |
| #7 Logan was in a child seat, but the other two children were not wearing seat belts. Crapola, I missed that one, P2k. Your post is absolutely warranted. When carrying passengers, my own car does not move until all belts are engaged. Especially so when there are children on board, simply as an example to them. We will never know if the deaths of those two young children were avoidable. What we do know is that insufficient measures were taken regarding their safety. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-11-06 08:07 |
| #6 "Why God?" The God I understand gave us human free will. With that comes consequences. We want to be above animals but we don't want the consequences - not in the deal. ".., but the other two children were not wearing seat belts." It's sad, it's unfortunate. However, if given a 'Groundhog Day', I'd believe there are rational actions which could have avoided the situation. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-11-06 07:51 |
| #5 God grant him the strength and courage to forgive what the wind did to his wife and children, and enable them to cleave to one another and mourn together. May their hearts heal even as their bodies heal, and may they together find peace. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-11-06 04:52 |
| #4 Glotle -- what incredible words you have spoken.... this soldier is from my next door growing up town.... all in the same county... and this story is felt throughout the county.... I remember talking to my mother, my dad had died, my husband had died, and then, my brother died. My conversation with her that night, after my brother had died, was that I could grieve with her as a wife losing a husband, but I had no words, no thoughts, no experience that could even begin to show me the horrors of losing a child. And this soldier has lost all three. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2007-11-06 01:25 |
| #3 This, while Mugabe and Kim sip their rare vintages. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-11-06 01:07 |
| #2 Amen Glotle. Amen. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2007-11-06 00:33 |
| #1 Speed limit in Texas on those wide open highways is 70 mph. And then folks behind you try to pass because you are not doing 75. And the wind like the old song El Paso says, "One night a wild young cowboy came in,Wild as the West Texas wind". It will turn over a tractor trailor. If I was a preacher man, I'd tell the soldier, "When we get old enough to be held responsible for what we do on judgement day, we may not make it to heaven. But all children go to heaven, for the Kingdom is like these little children." God decided to let his kids on in for good. They will be waiting for him, just be good. |
| Posted by: Tyranysaurus Glotle4274 2007-11-06 00:24 |