R.I.P. SGT Donna Johnson

14 October 2012
Written By: Don Carter
Don Carter is a wounded veteran and talented photographer

This began last week when my friend Bud Hunter and I were sitting in the office of his tire shop. I heard him start cursing, and asked what was going on. His friend, Donna Johnson of Raeford, N.C., a 29 year-old SGT in the 82nd ABN DIV was killed 01 Oct 2012 in Khost, Afghanistan, by a terrorist with a suicide vest. Her funeral, to be held on Saturday 13 Oct 2012, and the cause of the cursing was Bud reading that the Westboro Baptist Church were going to protest at the funeral.

I have been to more than my share of funerals. Raeford is a very small town, pretty much a south-west annex in all but name to Fayetteville, N.C. (home of Ft. Bragg, the 82nd Airborne, and Special Operations Command). The Westboro “people” wanted to protest a funeral, here? Incredible. Bud asked me to go with him to stand and shield the family and church from these hateful people. I of course said yes. There were to be the N.C. Patriot Guard Riders, invited by the family. The community, both Raeford where Donna grew up, as well as her Army family, along with some Marines, and Veterans who wished to honor Donna on that last mile to her final resting place would be out in force. At the last minute, I decided to take the camera and document the events. We shined and vacuumed out my car, as Bud wanted to drop the top on it and ride with two American flags jammed into the well for the top.

We parked the car on the corner directly across the street from her house. A crowd was massing quickly at the park, taking up an entire block. We were to be placed around the Westboro protesters and would march out. Westboro had their permit for two blocks from the church where the service was to be held. It was to last from 1015 hrs until 1100 hrs when the service started.

Parked at the staging area, across the street from Donna’s house.

Staging to join the group already blocking the protesters.

When the time came, everyone began moving toward the protesters, one block north and then one block east, away from the church.

Moving toward our objective.

As we rounded the corner, we caught our first glimpse of those who would defile this day with their hateful presence.

The protesters, hidden behind a sea of Donna’s friends, family, co-workers, and supporters.

I looked the other way, toward the church where the service was being held, and was greeted by this sight:

More people outside of the church. I have no idea how many were here.

I began to move closer to the protesters, finally catching my first glimpse of the American equivalent of the Taliban as far as religious extremists go.

Westboro Baptist Church protesters.

That flag being worn about the waist of the Westboro woman as well as the two being worn so as to be dragged on the ground by the older man were to become the cause of the one arrest of the day. The four WBC people were faced with an impenetrable wall of Donna’s supporters. By the end of the protest, the boy in the shorts and the blue hoodie had flushed cheeks and shame in his eyes, as well he should.

The wall of people from the WBC protest vantage.

Right as I was getting in place to take pictures, two men broke from the crowd. I could not see the actual altercation, but as soon as it finished, there was one man being arrested, all three flags had been removed from the WBC people, and the Sheriff’s Deputy in charge at this location had handed to flags to a man for proper retirement, as the flags had been in contact with the ground.

Seconds before two men removed the American flags from the WBC protesters.

In the blink of an eye, it was over, with one man in custody. The police were actually very gentle with him when they took him down. He did not resist the police at all.

One man taken into custody.

The man got a rousing cheer as he was led off by the police. Through this all, I realized that I was so angry at these people that my hands were shaking. Good thing I had the 200mm f/2.8 lens to counter the shake.

Every LEO in the area arrived, and within minutes ordered the WBC people out. Protest over, now Donna could make her final mile to rest.

The police shut down the protest, ordering them to leave and escorting them away from the area. Good riddance.

The helpful police man is opening the door for the WBC protester.

Gone. Now we could get to the real reason to be here, honoring SGT Donna Johnson on the last leg of her journey.

Good riddance.

I know that I spent a lot of time on the protesters. They do not deserve it. The people who stood watch for Donna do deserve the time and thanks. Freedom and Liberty are never easy. All of us who are serving or are Veterans fought for the freedom that the WBC exercised today, as disgusting and hateful as it is. Donna died in service to that ideal no matter what one thinks of the specific conflict in which she died. We exercised our right to peacefully counter them. The altercation was about the flags, not an attack on those people.

Donna’s journey to her resting place passed right by her house on the way to the cemetery. I got a good picture of a little girl and her parents by my car as we waited. The girl was absolutely fascinated by the car, and her parents were worried she would hurt the car. No worries.

Waiting for the last ride of SGT Donna Johnson.

The burial procession began with the Patriot Guard Riders.

Patriot Guard Riders vanguard.

They were followed by the burial detail for the Military Burial.

Burial Detail in Dress Blues (in the black SUV)

I didn’t get a lot of pictures of Donna’s casket as it passed. I was at the position of attention. Just one good picture that says it all. Your watch is over SGT Johnson, you are relieved of duty. Rest In Peace. Airborne.

Rest In Peace.

She was followed by over one hundred more bikes, some local, some Patriot Guard Riders. It was overall an outstanding and emotional day.

SGT Donna Johnson’s escort of honor.

Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/michaelyon-online/~3/4_igAwlkx-I/r.i.p.-sgt-donna-johnson.htm