[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15846]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING U.S. ARMY SERGEANT LA DAVID T. JOHNSON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Wilson) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WILSON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of 
U.S. Army Sergeant La David T. Johnson, who was killed in Niger, West 
Africa, during an ambush carried out by Boko Haram and other extremists 
linked to ISIS.
  This tragic loss of a life, still so young and so full of promise and 
potential, is one of the saddest ironies that I could ever imagine. 
Sergeant Johnson was just 25 years old, the father of two children, and 
a beloved member of the Miami Gardens community in which I reside.
  He and his two younger brothers, Keon and Richard, are proud members 
of the 5,000 Role Models of Excellence Project, an in-school dropout 
prevention program that I created soon after Sergeant Johnson was born, 
to ensure that he and other boys and young women of color have 
unfettered access to roads to success. Five thousand Role Models 
members all over the world are mourning his death.
  Sergeant Johnson is married to Myeshia Johnson and has two children, 
and Myeshia is expecting their third child.
  I sprung into action after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in 
their boarding school in Nigeria. I traveled to Nigeria four times in 
my quest, and I have initiated the ``Bring Back Our Girls Wear Red 
Wednesdays'' in the Congress of the United States. I appreciate the 
support, especially from our leader, Nancy Pelosi.
  I traveled there in August and met over 100 girls who were once 
hostages of Boko Haram. I wanted them to know that this Congress loves 
them and we will never, ever forget them.
  Boko Haram actually means ``Western education is a sin.'' They 
believe girls should be denied the privilege of an education, and they 
have killed more people than ISIS. In fact, they have joined forces 
with ISIS in the region and have killed over 20,000 Africans, sexually 
abused women and girls, and sends them on suicide missions using babies 
as decoys.
  More than 1 million people have been displaced from their homes and 
are starving to death. What a tragedy. It would be an even greater 
tragedy to allow the deaths of Sergeant Johnson and his comrades--Staff 
Sergeant Bryan C. Black, 35, from Washington; Staff Sergeant Jeremiah 
W. Johnson, 39, from Ohio; and Staff Sergeant Dustin M. Wright, 29, 
from Georgia--be in vain.
  Nearly a year ago, this Chamber voted unanimously for legislation 
that Republican Senator Susan Collins from Maine and I introduced that 
directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense and the 
Director of National Intelligence to jointly develop a 5-year strategy 
to end Boko Haram's reign of terror. The law also calls for a plan to 
assist the Nigerian Government, the Multinational Joint Task Force, and 
international partners in their efforts to counter this regional 
threat.

                              {time}  1045

  Our soldiers were not there to fight but to provide training and 
assistance to the Nigerian Army forces and the multinational joint task 
force created to combat Boko Haram.
  Yes, my heart breaks for this monumental loss, but it is also 
bursting with pride for all that he achieved and would have 
accomplished. During the few years in which he bravely served our 
Nation, he received several awards and accolades, including the Army 
Achievement Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, and, ironically, the Global 
War on Terrorism Medal.
  Boko Haram is a threat to the many nations across the globe that, 
like the United States, have committed monetary and human resources to 
help defeat this terrorist group, and we must never ever forget that 
this heinous organization's daily list of casualties could include one 
or more of our own, like Sergeant Johnson, Staff Sergeant Black, Staff 
Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson, and Staff Sergeant Wright.
  May they rest in peace.

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