Rank/Branch: Spc/Army
Unit: 507th Maintenance Company, Fort Bliss, Texas
Date of Birth
Home City of Record: Medina, Texas
Date of Loss: 23 March 2003
Country of Loss: Iraq
Loss Coordinates:An Nasiriyah
Status: POW
Category:
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Convoy
Other Personnel in Incident: Army Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, El Paso, Texas, Army Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, Cleveland, Army Sgt. James Riley, 31, Pennsauken; N.J., Army Sgt. Donald Walters, 33, Salem, Ore., Army Spc. James Kiehl, 22, Comfort, Texas, Army Pvt. Brandon Sloan, 19, Bedford Heights, Ohio, Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Texas, Army Pfc Jessica Lynch, 19, of Palestine, West Virginia, Army Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, Alamogordo, N.M., Army Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, Park City, Kan,, Army Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18, El Paso, Texas.
Source: Compiled by Last Firebase Veterans Archives Project from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Date Updated:
REMARKS:
When Shoshana Johnson, 30, enlisted in the Army in 1998, her mission was to become a chef, not a soldier and her duty of preparing meals for the 507th Maintenance Company at Fort Bliss, Texas, was exactly the cooking training she sought.
But that was before President Bush declared Iraq a point on the"axis of evil." It was before she got her February orders to deploy to the Persian Gulf region.
On March 23, 2003, Iraqi troops ambushed a U.S. Army supply convoy near An Nasiriyah when it took a wrong turn. There had been bitter fighting around Nasiriyah, a vital crossing point of the River Euphrates about 225 miles southeast of Baghdad.
Johnson was among a dozen soldiers in the convoy who are now listed missing in action or prisoners of war.
Family members have identified five POWs after Iraqi television video showed the captured soldiers who range in age from 19 to 31.
The five identified are Spc. Edgar Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Texas; Spc. Joseph Hudson, 23, of Alamogordo, N.M.; Spc. Shoshanna Johnson, 30, of Medina, Texas; Pfc. Patrick Miller, 23, of Valley Center, Kan., and Sgt. James Riley, 31, Pennsauken, N.J.
They were all trained at Fort Bliss as a support unit to supply mechanics to repair the Patriot missile trucks based at the Texas army post.
Fort Bliss is about 600 miles west of Fort Hood.
Claude Johnson learned about his oldest child's fate while flipping through channels to find a cartoon for Shoshana's daughter, 2-year-old Janelle.
Telemundo, a Spanish television station, was broadcasting video from Iraqi television that showed Americans in Iraq's custody.
Later, Army officials summoned Claude Johnson and his wife, Eunice, to Fort Bliss and confirmed the prisoner-of-war report.
Nikki Johnson said her sister had not planned on a military career although she was in the ROTC at Andress High School and their father was an Army retiree.
Relatives said she was popular and outgoing during high school and was on the drill team, and they said she had a knack for getting out of difficult situations.
"She always had an angel following her around," Nikki Johnson said. "She always manages to get out of stuff."
Claude Johnson said he hopes the appropriate neutral parties will see his daughter soon.
Nikki Johnson said her sister is a well-trained woman, and she has faith in her sister's resilience. Her advice: "Just stay strong. Keep your dignity. Try not to let them break you." Her prayer: "Hopefully her angel is still with her."
