Johnson family update: Car crash claims third child of wounded Iraq veteran
Two weeks ago, I mentioned charitable efforts to help the Johnson family. Army Spc. John Austin Johnson was wounded in an IED attack in Iraq and recovering from traumatic brain injury in Texas. His wife and three children were traveling to visit him when their car rolled over in a blast of wind. Spc. Johnson’s two daughters died at the scene. The third child, 9-year-old son Tyler, clung to life until Saturday:
A wounded Iraq veteran and his wife have lost a third child from injuries the boy suffered in a car accident on the way to visit his father in the hospital.
Three weeks after his siblings died in an Oct. 13 accident on the gusty West Texas plains, 9-year-old Tyler Johnson died Saturday at Children’s Medical Center Dallas.
Army Spc. John Austin Johnson was waiting for his wife, Lisa, and their three kids to visit him at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio when the deadly crash occurred on Interstate 10 about 12 miles east of Ozona.
Lisa Johnson overcorrected the steering in her sport utility vehicle after encountering a blast of wind on the drive from El Paso, causing the car to roll at least four times, officials have said.
The couple’s youngest children, 2-year-old Logan and 5-year-old Ashley, died at the scene. Tyler Johnson suffered massive head injuries.
Lisa Johnson was driving at the speed limit, traffic investigators have said, but they blamed the accident on a combination of high speed, drowsiness and powerful winds.
Donations continue to pour in:
Visitation for Tyler is set for Wednesday and a funeral for Thursday at Roller-Ballard Funeral Home in Benton, Ark., the family’s hometown.
Numerous donations have helped the family deal with immediate expenses.
The Professional Golfers’ Association raised $95,000 to pay for a new car and other expenses.
American Airlines donated plane tickets for family members to travel to the children’s funerals last month and the pending funeral this week.
Schmidt said the Johnsons plan to take a month off to rest and decide what to do next.
“Right now, they’ve kind of had a mission, so to speak going to hospital every day, checking on their son, burying two others,” he said. “When this calms down, they’re going to realize it’s just them two.”
You can donate to the family through any Bank of America branch. The account is the “Ashley and Logan Johnson Memorial Fund.” Tell the bank associate that the account is domiciled in Texas.
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I couldn’t imagine… My prayers go out to him.
Heavenly Father, please welcome the Johnson children into Your loving arms. May their parents, family and friends find hope and healing in this tragic time. May those who so generously donated their time, money, thoughts and prayers be blessed. Amen.
How horrible. My heart and prayers are with the Johnson family.
Worst story ever.
My.Lord.And.My.God
I will pray for and donate to this family.
May they find strength.
How can so many bad things happen to one family? There must be a lesson here somewhere.
so sad. the family is in my thoughts and prayers.
(second tear jerker for feebs).
sad indeed, my thoughts and Prayers as well.
Words fail me. So I pray.
I cannot imagine the grief of losing one child, much less three. My heart bleeds for the parents. They are in my thoughts and prayers.
I know that the Lord never gives you a burden too heavy to handle, but stories like this make me doubt it.
I think this is the hardest story to take that I have ever read. Words fail me, but hopefully prayers won’t.
Dern it.My heart hurts.Praying…
My prayers are with the Johnsons. Their hearts must be so heavy as to be unbearable.
Indeed, I am praying as well. This is extremely tragic and heart-breaking. I just pray that God will give him and his wife the strength to get through this together.
As an 80 year old with 23 grand and six great grandfather, my heart bleeds for the anguish of John and Lisa. I want to say to you, that your children are safe. Safe from wind and accidents and are out of reach of Lucifer. They have been welcomed and loved by family already there and will soon be helping to prepare a place for you so that you can join the throngs about the throne, singing Thanks to Him who gave His all for us. Remember Gen. 31:49.
It just tears me up inside to hear about this.
Those babies are in a better place, but I can hardly imagine a worse place for the parents to be.
They are in my thoughts and prayers — MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU AND MAKE HIS FACE TO SHINE UPON YOU.
My thoughts and prayers. May God the almighty give her the strength to overcome.
May they find consolation and peace.
Heatwrenching and tear jerking.
May God give them the parents strength and recieve the children into his loving arms.
It is hard to even think on their misery.
My burdens are so small compared to this.
…a poem I read today because of the loss of a family friend seems especially appropriate right now…
I hope and pray that someday soon, these parents can hear their babies saying this to them.
I can’t imagine the pain the parents are suffering. Our family’s prayers are with them.
I cannot imagine the pain that this family is going through. My heart breaks for their loss. I will pray.
When I read this, it shot through me like a bullet. I can’t imagine the loss. God says to comfort one-another as we have been comforted. When I think of Ashley and Logan, another family comes to mind. This family lost all they had, their children, their possessions and he was left with illness and pain. His name was Job. God did not have anything to teach Job. Job was already without blame. We know that in the end, Job was comforted by his family and friends. They all gave of themselves and their money. And Job said “before, I had heard about you, but know I have seen you”.
“I know that my redeemer lives and in the end I shall see Him stand upon the earth with my own eyes…”
I hope and pray that they have a very loving and very supportive family. I know that their military family will surround them and love them too — they will not be left behind.
Nothing can be said that hasn’t already been said. Only now to pray, give from our abundance and for friends and other family to sit with them-just to be there.
…and the world ran out of tears.
More tears…
Amen.
This story broke me up.There are tears on my keyboard.This man got injured defending my way of life,than came home to this kind of pain.I share his pain
Prayers for this family.
I have no words.
Ditto-
No words can be said but prayers to Yeshua above.
GSP
Amen!!!!
There are no words for this tragedy.
It makes us stop and realize just how fortunate we are to have OUR families.
God in His infinite wisdom will take care of the couple and will embrace those children.
This is a sad story, it truly breaks your heart. My prayers go out to the Johnson Family.
Heard about this on the radio this morning here in Dallas. Almost had to pull over. Can’t imagine what they are going through.
may God hold your children in his arms
Lord, please bless this family and give them peace and understanding.
I have three young children and I cannot imagine if all of a sudden they were gone. I pray that God will give them strength and peace… He’s the only one who can for something like that.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace;
where there is hatred,
let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O, Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Please Lord hold the Johnson family in your arms and heal their heart and soul. Amen.
I am saddened beyond words. I can’t fathom the sorrow they are suffering…
My prayers are with this family.
My heart actually aches heavily for the Johnsons. No one should EVER have to go through what they are enduring. I pray their love for each other and their faith in God will bring them through this, closer to one another than ever before. And I hope our collective sympathy for them will find them and help sustain them. Deep heartfelt prayers being said here for this devastated and heartbroken couple. I can’t imagine…. my heart cries for them.
Having lost my father, my brother and my sister, I understand the pain. BUT, three children? Perhaps my mom does.
Lord please give comfort to the mom, Lisa, and dad, Army Spc. John Austin Johnson an American hero.
.
I received this poem when my brother Mike died.
.
The Rose Still Grows Beyond The Wall
The rose still grows beyond the wall
Near shady wall a rose once grew,
Budded and blossomed in God’s free light,
Watered and fed by morning dew,
Shedding its sweetness day and night.
As it grew and blossomed fair and tall,
Slowly rising to loftier height,
It came to a crevice in the wall,
Through which there shone a beam of light.
Onward it crept with added strength,
With never a thought of fear or pride;
It followed the light through the crevice-length
And unfolded itself on the other side.
The light, the view, the broadening view,
Were found the same as they were before;
And it lost itself in beauties new,
Breathing its fragrance more and more.
Shall claim of death cause us to grieve
And make our courage faint or fall?
Nay, let us faith and hope receive;
The rose still grows beyond the wall,
Scattering fragrance far and wide,
Just as it did in days of yore,
Just as it did on the other side,
Just as it will forevermore.
A.L. Frink