MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - As the family of U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson prepare to put him to rest, Johnson’s sister described the last conversation she had with her brother.
“He was telling me he loved me, and I was telling him I loved him. I said, ‘Be careful,’ not knowing that was the last time that I was actually going to actually talk to my brother,” said Johnson’s sister Torneisha Ghent.
The 25-year-old Green Beret was one of four U.S. service members killed in an ISIS ambush in Niger back on Oct. 4. Their bodies were recovered after the attack, but Johnson’s body wasn’t found for two days.
“I didn’t even believe that he was gone. I was like, ‘Stop playing. I know my brother’s not gone ’cause I was just recently speaking to him,'” Ghent said. “I called his phone over and over and over.”
A Delta airlines flight from Atlanta brought Johnson’s casket to Miami International Airport Tuesday, where the plane was greeted with a water cannon salute.
Passengers said there were tears on board after learning they were flying with a fallen soldier.
Dennis Ward and his wife Debra said they were at a loss for words as they watched Johnson’s widow walk up to his casket. “You could see the family, and you just really felt for their sacrifice,” said Debra.
“When I saw his wife standing there, pregnant, with his little daughter, walking out to the casket, it just, it really just broke my heart,” another passenger said.
The body was brought to a Hollywood funeral home with a police escort. But now there are questions surrounding the ambush.
“Why he was separated from the rest of the soldiers?” U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., asked. “Why did it take 48 hours for them to find him? And why were they so unprotected?”
The Defense Department is investigating, and U.S. officials have reportedly described the scene as one of confusion as the soldiers returned to an unarmored vehicle after meeting with villagers. As family members wait for an explanation, they’re still able to find hope from their hero.
“I’m at peace because the last thing we said to each other was, ‘I love you,'” Ghent said.
Wilson said she has requested an investigation and a classified meeting once she returns to Washington D.C.
Johnson’s family has made arrangements for a visitation on Friday with his funeral scheduled for Saturday.
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