News-Info-Alerts

Re: Johnson Honored

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: September 11, 2003

"Ex-Pow Honored

Courtesy: The Associated Press

(Las Vegas-AP) -- Army Specialist Shoshana Johnson doesn't think of herself as a hero _ despite receiving the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Prisoner of War Medal.

She says, when her 3-year-old daughter grows up, the word heroic will not be used to describe how she survived an ambush near Nasiriyah and weeks spent in Iraqi captivity.

Instead, she's going to tell her -- quote -- "Her mom's a soldier who came home by the grace of God to watch her grow up."

The 30-year-old Army cook and resident of El Paso met with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman on Friday to receive a key to the city. Goodman also proclaimed it "Shoshana Johnson Day."

A member of the 507th Maintenance Company, Johnson was wounded March 23 in an ambush that killed nine soldiers. A bullet fractured Johnson's left femur and tore her right Achilles tendon _ injuries that have forced her to make the tough decision of seeking a medical discharge from the military.

Johnson says she had planned on spending 20 years in the military like her father, who retired from the Army in 1999.

© 2003 KTNV and Journal Broadcast Group"