LITTLE ROCK — Interwoven tragedies suffered by a war-injured Arkansas soldier and his wife have prompted thousands of sympathizers - many of them mothers and soldiers - to reach out after the couple lost two children in a freak highway accident.
They have expressed disbelief, wondering how so many losses could be inflicted on a family that already has sacrificed so much. It seems so unfair, they say.
Here's the family's story:
After a lengthy stint in Iraq and several encounters with explosive devices, Army Spc. John Austin Johnson was wounded and sent to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio with a traumatic brain injury. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Bliss, and was nearing the end of a 15-month deployment, according to the El Paso Times. It wasn't clear when Johnson was injured or returned to the States.
As he began a difficult recovery, his wife, Mona Lisa Johnson, decided to take the couple's three children from the family's El Paso home to San Antonio to visit their dad.
The eight-hour stretch of Interstate 10 between the two cities is flat and nondescript. Strong and sudden crosswinds frequently blast across the interstate, often taking drivers by surprise.
According to The Associated Press, one of those gusts swept into the family's SUV, prompting Johnson to overcorrect.
There, close to desolate Ozona, Texas - still four hours away from San Antonio, where the wounded soldier waited to see his children - the vehicle flipped several times.
Ashley, 5, and Logan, 2, died at the scene.
Their older brother, Tyler, 9, suffered severe head injuries and remained hospitalized in Dallas.
The children's mother, known by friends as Lisa, suffered minor injuries.
A week would pass before news of the Oct. 13 accident spread. On Sunday, obituaries for the children appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. (The family was from Benton, where Ashley was born.)
By Monday, national media picked up the story.
Jennifer Bateman, a Texas mother of two, cried after she logged onto her computer and read about the accident.
"In my imagination, I could see them, packing up the car, probably talking about Daddy as they drove, so excited to seehim, and I put myself in her place," Bateman said in a telephone interview.
"We're frequently on the interstate, and every time I get in the car, I'm praying, 'Dear God, please protect us.' It's always a white-knuckled time for me. I'm always on edge. And I'm thinking she has to have been the same way. Because she's a mom, too."
All day, as Bateman cared for her 4-month-old baby and 3-year-old girl, her thoughts strayed to that broken family. She sat back down at the computer and started Googling,eventually stumbling across the name of the funeral home, where she found an online guestbook. Without pausing to think, she started typing:
Please know that there is a loving family in Austin, TX who is sad and praying for all of you - and will continue to in the months ahead. God Bless sweet little Ashley and Logan in His loving care, and Tyler as he heals. God Bless you, John in your continued physical recovery from duty. Thank you for your service to our country. And especially God Bless Lisa, whose mommy heart is shattered.Mom to mom, I send you love and friendship.
"My dad is a retired Air Force officer," Bateman said. "I grew up in the Air Force. We're about the same age, and I'm a mom. I guess I'm just thinking of her like I would a friend of mine."
Hundreds of other sympathizers, many from other states, also found the guestbook. Like Bateman, they felt compelled to write something.
Others have rushed to help the family financially.
Donations paid for five burial plots at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Alexander and grave markers for the children. American Airlines provided free tickets for family members. In El Paso, FirstLight Federal Credit Union set up an account for the family, depositing an initial $10,000.
In Arkansas, the Saline Veterans Association announced it, too, was raising money for the family to help cover funeral costs. Two members of the association couldn't be reached for comment.
Ashley and Logan were buried Tuesday afternoon.
By Wednesday, people from California to New Mexico to Texas to Arkansas to Tennessee to New York continued to sign the funeral home's guestbook.
One message came from Michigan resident Suzette Boler, who heard about the Johnsons' loss from an organization that offers support to injured soldiers and their families.
In an e-mail to the Democrat-Gazette, she explained:
My husband is a TBI [traumatic brain injury] victim from a IED in Iraq. So I understand that part of their tragedy. But as far as losing their children I can't even imagine. I cried for hours after reading their story. My husband wants to go to Texas just to be there for them.
In recent months, Suzette Boler has been struggling with self-pity, she said, mourning the man her husband used to be. But when she heard about the Johnsons, she realized that others are suffering from heartbreak greater than her family's.
In her e-mail, Boler wrote: It just at times boggles the mind how much tragedy a human being can take. ... This young man left his family and went to fight for his country and was wounded only to come home and lose two of his children. This family should be getting cards and letters from every American citizen, showing their support.
Condolences from Arkansans also poured in.
"We saw it on the news, and then when we got on the computer, we had an e-mail from a dear friend telling us about it," recalled Claire Haun of North Little Rock.
She found the online guestbook and signed it.
"I am the grandparent of a 5-year-old. My brother served in Vietnam," she said.
Other circumstances also compelled her to write.
"We lost our home in Katrina. That has made us more acutely aware of our community, which I used to think stopped at the Mississippi border."
Now, Haun said, she realizes how a single event can change and redefine a life.
"I just wanted them to know, like I found out two years ago, the people who love you and care about you - they don't have to have met you or know you personally to feel your suffering. I just wanted John and Mona Lisa to know that we love and care for them, that they're part of our community."
One guestbook message, given its origins, carried even more poignancy:
Ashley, To a beautiful younglady. I will miss Your Awesome Smile, as You played with Scott, Brett, Rachel and Timothy. Your presence was a Blessing to my entire family. Love you so much - All the way from Iraq. - SSG Kevin Schmidt
In an e-mail to the Democrat-Gazette, Schmidt recalled get-togethers with the Johnson family. His four children and the Johnsons' three made for a lively environment, he said.
Ashley loved to play dressup with his daughter, Rachel, Schmidt recalled, while the others congregated around Tyler's Xbox.
He remembers watching Lisa Johnson rock little Logan to sleep.
Schmidt met John Johnson - or "Austin" - three years ago, he said, when Schmidt became his platoon sergeant.
He wrote:
Austin and I spent alot of our time talking about the future of the Army and of course the ... deployment, as we were not looking forward to leaving our wives and the kids. My Love is deep for this family.
Amanda Tiernan of Malvern is only 22. She doesn't have children.
But when she read about the Johnsons, she cried. Tiernan's dad was in the Air Force, she said, so she grew up in a military family. She also suffered her own loss.
In an e-mail, she explained:
It's such a terrible thing that he was injured, but what a relief he came home alive. And then for this terrible accident to happen. ... I lost my mother to cancer when I was 13 and I know how bad it hurts to lose someone close to you. My heart cries for this family.
Front Section, Pages 1, 3 on 10/25/2007