Thread: Oh my gosh...How sad....

I know a lot of people are probably getting tired of hearing about the war, but I was reading about the American POWs and I was almost in tears. I don't know if you all know, but there is I think only 1 woman that is a POW, and she wasn't even a soldier really, she was a cook. It makes me so sad for all of them and also the soldiers who have died. The woman POW, is a 30 year old single mother of a 2 year old girl. The woman's parents did an interview, and the interview was so sad too. Here's the link to the interview, I don't know If I am doing it right.

http://msnbc.com/news/890828.asp


Here's the text of the interview


March 25 — Last month, 30-year-old Shoshana Johnson, known to family and friends as Shana, shipped out from Fort Bliss to the Gulf. She’s a cook with the 507th Maintenance Company, who didn’t expect to see combat. But this past weekend, in the push toward Baghdad, her convoy of support vehicles took a wrong turn and found themselves cut off and under enemy fire. Specialist Johnson was among those taken prisoner, then videotaped by Iraqi television. The images have caused an uproar. Shana Johnson’s family, her young daughter, Janelle, her two sisters and her parents Claude and Eunice wait, hope and pray. NBC’s Stone Phillips spoke with her mother and father.

PHILLIPS: “As you think about your daughter, a prisoner of war tonight, what’s your biggest concern?”
Eunice Johnson: “How she’s being treated right now. I’m sorry to be so emotional out there sitting quietly waiting. I hope that she’s being treated humanely. I hope that she’s being treated, I hope, as a lady. I hope that she’s okay.”
Phillips: “Have you seen her pictures on television?”
Eunice Johnson: “I have seen a still picture of her.”
Phillips: “How did she look to you in the picture?”
Eunice Johnson: “Scared.”
Claude Johnson: “She looked terrified.”
Eunice Johnson: “Like there are a lot of people around her that she doesn’t know and knows that they pose a threat to her life.”
Phillips: “Claude, you were the first one to find out in your family—”
Claude Johnson: “Yes.”
Phillips: “— that members of the 507th out of Fort Bliss had been ambushed and that Shana was among those who had been taken prisoner. How did you learn about it?”




Claude Johnson: “It was early Sunday morning. And usually when her daughter gets up we turn on the TV and she will watch cartoons. And—”
Phillips: “This is Shana’s daughter.”
Claude Johnson: “This is Shana’s daughter. And they were having a reporter on TV saying this was an issue in Iraq, and now they had captured five U.S. prisoners. And they went through and gave names and what I caught was one African American female, 30 years old, from the 507th, her name was Shana. And I said, ‘it’s gotta be.’”
Eunice Johnson: “That’s her.”
Claude Johnson: “It’s gotta be her.”
Phillips: “What was your reaction?”
Claude Johnson: “I was startled, I was surprised. Because I— the last time I heard about Shana she was supposed to be in Kuwait.”
Eunice Johnson: “Just at first, I’m glad that she’s not dead, you know? But then, she’s in the hands of these people. And what these people have done to people in the past.”
Phillips: “When did you finally hear something from the Army?”
Claude Johnson: “About two o’clock in the afternoon, 2:30. And we went down to Fort Bliss.”
Eunice Johnson: “The person that gave us the news he was more shaken I think than both of us. He was next to tears, you know, reading us this piece from Rumsfeld that if the news is official. I felt sorry for him having to give that news. But Shana was alive. They told us that.”
Phillips: Eunice, you were surprised, to say the least, that she would have been in Iraq.”




Eunice Johnson: “I had no idea. None. Not any that she would be in Iraq. I had thought that as a support group, she would be in Kuwait. Shana is a cook. What is she doing all the way past Basra into Nazaria?
Phillips: “Do you think she ever expected to come face to face with the enemy in Iraq?”
Eunice Johnson: “No. No.”
Phillips: “Claude, you’re a Gulf War veteran yourself.”
Claude Johnson: “Yes.”
Phillips: “When Shana shipped out did you have any advice for her?”
Claude Johnson: “Yes, I did. I told her to be careful. Keep her eyes open. And realize that she was in harm’s way pretty much. Because — they— the battlefield is not battlefield like old times when your enemy was in front of you. Your enemy is everywhere, especially today, especially in that region. You don’t know who your enemy is.”
Phillips: “And how did she seem to feel about going over?”
Claude Johnson: “She had no reservations. She realized that the unit was asked to go over and she was part of the unit. And that—”
Eunice Johnson: “She would go—”
Claude Johnson: “— she was supposed to go.”
Eunice Johnson: “She was going.”
Claude Johnson: “I was proud that she decided I’m going ‘cause I mean—”
Eunice Johnson: “She didn’t— she didn’t wimp out. She just said, ‘Hey, I gotta go.’ I said, ‘There’s no way that you can get out of that?’ She says, ‘No, ma.’”
Phillips: “You are a military family. You’re tired Army. You work at Fort Bliss, a civilian.”




Eunice Johnson: “Oh, yes.”
Phillips: “Your daughter, Nicki, is a captain in the Army.”
Eunice Johnson: “Yes.”
Claude Johnson: “Right.”
Phillips: “As a family, you understand these realities.”
Eunice Johnson: “Yes.”
Claude Johnson: “Yes.”
Phillips: “It’s a risk that you have to accept.”
Eunice Johnson: “Yes.”
Claude Johnson: “Yes.”
Phillips: “That doesn’t make it any easier.”
Eunice Johnson: “No... because like Nicki said, you know, we’re in the military. And we do what we’re told to do. And Shana was a soldier. Shana is a soldier. And Nicki said Shauna would be all right. If Shauna do what she learned from the military, Shauna would be all right.”
Phillips: “Our International Red Cross spokesman said today there is absolutely no reason to believe we won’t have access to prisoners on both sides. That’s encouraging news... The question in your mind is when is this gonna happen?”
Claude Johnson: “Absolutely. When are we gonna get somebody in there? Yesterday would be better. But I want it now.”









Phillips: “You know her better than anyone. What do you think she’s doing to help her get through this?”
Eunice Johnson: “She is praying. She’s praying everyday and every time. And that’s gonna get her through. She’s asking God. I know... I know in my heart because she had a rosary with her. She forgot it. This was the day that she was being deployed. And she called me and she said, ‘I left my rosary, you know, on the dresser upstairs in my house.’ And I had to go back home and get it. So, I’m hoping that she has that rosary with her.”
Phillips: “Her faith is important—
Eunice Johnson: “Yes.”
Phillips: “— to her?”
Eunice Johnson: “Yes. And I know she’s praying... When it falls night time in Iraq I think of her in a little cell by herself and it’s dark, it’s black. And there’s no kind of communication so that’s where I know that she’s communicating with God.”
Phillips: “Tell me about Shana’s daughter?”
Eunice Johnson: “Uh-huh.”
Phillips: “What does she know about her mother’s situation?”
Eunice Johnson: “She doesn’t. She doesn’t. Every time she asks I tell her, ‘Mommy is at work.’ So, that’s what she says. She tells them in the daycare, ‘My mommy is at work. That’s her job.’”
Phillips: “Is it a comfort for the two of you that you have your granddaughter with you?”
Eunice Johnson: “Yeah.”

Originally posted by smeans
my prayers go out to that family. i saw them this morning on gma. it was so sad to hear them talk. i can never begin to imagine what they are feeling.

I agree with you. These are the parts that really got me.

Claude Johnson: “The message I have for Shauna is to continue being tough. And know that we are praying for her and that we love her. And that Janelle is waiting for her to come home.”
Eunice Johnson: “Uh-huh. Keep the faith. Keep the faith. And the Lord would bring them all home. Not just Shauna but the other ones as well. All of them.”
Claude Johnson: “Because my first concern is for my daughter, obviously.”
Eunice Johnson: “All of them.”
Claude Johnson: “I’m concerned because those soldiers are mine, too.”
Eunice Johnson: “That she’s scared. But that I know in my heart and I’m a hundred percent right. She’ll be home. I think if I pray, I know if I pray. And I know I am praying. And with all the prayers, they’ll all come home.”

and then where it said

The Johnsons said they’re looking forward to a different headline: “Prisoners Released Unharmed — All of Them.” And they’re looking for it soon.

I watched this on DateLine on NBC last night.
I was so sad in tears.
the family is strong. the parents look so nice and loving. She has a young child.

I pray she and the rest are released unharmed and soon.