Author: Waveflux

I received a letter from a gentleman who asked if there was a letter circulating which demands that the Army reopen its investigation of the death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson, something that people might sign.

I replied that there was no such letter so far as I knew. But it was a good idea. There ought be such an opportunity for people work both individually and communally to help the Johnson family determine the truth of what happened to their daughter. And now there is.

This web-based petition to the Armed Services Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives asks the members of those bodies to compel the Army to reexamine the clouded circumstances of the death of LaVena Johnson. Please read the petition. Please sign it. Please share it with everyone you know. Thank you.

(Other suggestions for action can be found here.)

Following in the footsteps of such news and opinion sites as AlterNet and Truthout, the website of activist Michael Moore has picked up the story of Pfc. LaVena Johnson’s suspicious death in Iraq and its disputed investigation by the Army. It’s clear that the blogosphere is awakening to the struggle of LaVena’s family to learn the truth about their daughter’s death. It’s important to remember, however, that this story is much larger than Blogville. Weblogs obviously have their importance in comminicating this story, but you don’t have to be a blogger to be concerned over the anguish of this military family and the inflexibility of the Army. And you don’t have to be a blogger to act on that concern.
One very important and helpful act: commend the reporter and television station that brought this new information about LaVena to light: Matt Sczesny (pronounced says-nee) of KMOV-TV in St. Louis. The address of the KMOV newsroom is news@kmov.com.

Other steps you can take involve:

The media close at hand. LaVena’s story is no more a local concern than the war in Iraq or the concern that families have for their loved ones overseas. Share that concern in the letters column of your newspaper, or on open line discussion on that radio talk show you listen to.

The media far away. LaVena’s story won’t enter the minds of professional opinion-makers unless it is brought to their attention. It could be a national-level print columnist (a Nick Kristoff, possibly, as Booman suggested earlier), a television personality (a Keith Olbermann, perhaps), a talk show host (an Oprah Winfrey, maybe). If you feel that a particular media personality would be sympathetic to the story of Pfc. Johnson and her family, please share that story with him or her.

Those who have written or talked about LaVena before. Our attention span is narrow; we have to work to remember things, even important things. There are news outlets that have mentioned LaVena’s death once and then moved on because that’s the way of the world. Find out who they are (Google, Lexis Nexis, and the like). Help them remember. Remind them of LaVena.

Friends, family, plain old people. I look at the links that are bringing people to the posts on LaVena and see that several originated from emails. People are sharing the story. It takes just a moment to spread the word via your address book. Or over dinner.

Politicians. The Armed Services Committee’s in the Senate and in the House are charged with legislative oversight of the armed forces. With enough will, their members can compel the Army to respond to LaVena’s family. You can help these legislators find that will by asking them to act in their capacity as members of these committees. MichaelMoore.com links to the membership page of the Senate body, but a more convenient list of direct contact links for each member of both the Senate and House committees can be found here.

Those who have served. I saved soldiers for last here when they might easily have been first; I did so because I believe it’s important to go away from this thinking primarily about the men and women who have served us in dangerous places. Our thoughts are with them and for them and their families, regardless of personal feelings about the current war. If you have a loved one or a friend who is is serving now or has served, share LaVena’s story with that soldier.

The only thing to add here is that even though feelings on this subject will run hot, it’s important to be decent in your communications with people from whom you are asking help. After all, you’re acting not in your name alone, but in someone else’s.

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: Other suggestions would be much welcomed.

Once upon a time lived a young woman from a St. Louis suburb. She was an honor roll student, she played the violin, she donated blood and volunteered for American Heart Association walks. She elected to put off college for a while and joined the Army once out of school. At Fort Campbell, KY, she was assigned as a weapons supply manager to the 129th Corps Support Battalion.

She was LaVena Johnson, private first class, and she died near Balad, Iraq, on July 19, 2005, just eight days shy of her twentieth birthday. She was the first woman soldier from Missouri to die while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The tragedy of her story begins there.
An Army representative initially told LaVena’s father, Dr. John Johnson, that his daughter died of “died of self-inflicted, noncombat injuries,” but initially added that it was not a suicide.  The subsequent Army investigation reversed this finding and declared LaVena’s death a suicide, a finding refuted by the soldier’s family. In an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dr. Johnson pointed to indications that his daughter had endured a physical struggle before she died – two loose front teeth, a “busted lip” that had to be reconstructed by the funeral home – suggesting that “someone might have punched her in the mouth.”

A promise by the office of Representative William Lacy Clay to look into the matter produced nothing. The military said that the matter was closed.

Little more on LaVena’s death was said until St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV aired a story last night which disclosed troubling details not previously made public - details which belie the Army’s assertion that the young Florissant native died by her own hand. The video of the report is available on the KMOV website.

Reporter Matt Sczesny spoke with LaVena’s father and examined documents and photos sent by Army investigators. So far from supporting the claim that LaVena died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the documents provided elements of another scenario altogether:

• Indications of physical abuse that went unremarked by the autopsy
• The absence of psychological indicators of suicidal thoughts; indeed, testimony that LaVena was happy and healthy prior to her death
• Indications, via residue tests, that LaVena may not even have handled the weapon that killed her
• A blood trail outside the tent where Lavena’s body was found
• Indications that someone attenpted to set LaVena’s body on fire

The Army has resisted calls by Dr. Johnson and by KMOV to reopen its investigation.

We have seen in other military deaths, most infamously that of Army Ranger and former professional football player Cpl. Pat Tillman, that the Army has engaged in an insulting game of deny and delay when it comes to uncovering embarrassing facts. Only when public and official attention is brought to bear on the matter - as happened, eventually and with great effort, with the case of Cpl. Tillman - do unpleasant truths come to light.

Astonishing as it seems, it takes that level of outrage to compel the Army to find the truth and tell it, to honor its own soldiers. No such groundswell has yet emerged in the case of LaVena; not enough voices have demanded that someone in the military, anyone, speak for her. At first glance, the contrast between the cases of Pat Tillman and LaVena Johnson seems vast, but at the core the situations are the same. In each case, the death of a young soldier in a dangerous place and time was not explained to the families they left behind, the families that gave them up so that they could serve us. An honest accounting of their passing is all the dead ask of us.

The mother of Pat Tillman put the matter in stark and honest terms:

“This is how they treat a family of a high-profile individual,” she said. “How are they treating others?”

In the case of Private First Class Johnson, we know the answer.

Send a message to your Senator on the Senate Armed Services Committee:

Democrats
Carl Levin, Chairman (Michigan)

Claire McCaskill (Missouri)
Edward M. Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Robert C. Byrd (West Virginia)
Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut)
Jack Reed (Rhode Island)
Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii)
Bill Nelson (Florida)
E. Benjamin Nelson (Nebraska)
Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York)
Mark L. Pryor (Arkansas)
Jim Webb (Virginia)

Republicans
John McCain, Ranking Member (Arizona)
John W. Warner (Virginia)
James M. Inhofe (Oklahoma)
Jeff Sessions (Alabama)
Susan M. Collins (Maine)
John Ensign (Nevada)
Saxby Chambliss (Georgia)
Lindsey O. Graham (South Carolina)
Elizabeth Dole (North Carolina)
John Cornyn (Texas)
John Thune (South Dakota)
Mel Martinez (Florida)

Related posts at Waveflux:

The mystery of Private Johnson
More details in the mysterious death of LaVena Johnson
Army rules Pfc. Johnson death suicide; family disagrees
Two soldiers, and what we owe them
Army verdict on LaVena Johnson: Suicide
Impending news report on Pfc. LaVena Johnson