Services Held For Third Brooklyn Soldier Killed In Iraq

By Neil S. Friedman

Pfc. Rayshawn Johnson

Rayshawn Johnson, a 20-year-old soldier from Brooklyn who was killed when his vehicle hit a landmine in Iraq earlier this month, was buried last Fri-day with military honors and remembered as a proud young man who loved his uniform and country.

Pfc. Johnson was eulogized at a two-hour service attended by his biological mother, the adoptive mother who raised him and scores of relatives, friends and public officials.

"I never thought it would be like this,’’ said Patty Johnson, the soldier’s biological mother. "It makes me so proud that people love him. I always wanted him to be a good person at heart, and actually it came true for me."

Johnson had been in the Army for one year and had been assigned to the 299th Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, in Fort Hood, Texas before his unit was shipped to Iraq to build bridges. He was killed on November 3 when his Humvee hit a landmine near Tikrit.

At his funeral at the Vanderveer Park United Methodist Church in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, Deborah Winter, who adopted Johnson when he was 7 and raised him along with eight other children, wept as Ma-jor Gen. Ronald Johnson pinned the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star on her lapel.

"When he returned to the neighborhood, he refused to come out of his greens," his aunt, Rosalyn Winter, told mourners at his funeral. "He wanted everyone to know this was a foster child who became a member of another family. The U.S. Army made a man of him.’’

"It is my hope that one day this will stop,’’ said Gen. Johnson, who was not related to the slain soldier and is scheduled to go to Iraq in January. "But I am not afraid because it is soldiers like Pfc. Johnson who want to make me do this even more. When I go to Iraq I’ll think of Pfc. Rayshawn Johnson.’’

Mark Boykin, a longtime friend, said Johnson volunteered for military service "so that every person in here can continue to do whatever they do.’’

Pfc. Johnson was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star, which were given to his foster mother. He is the third soldier from the borough to be killed in Iraq. Marine Lance Corporal William White lost his life in March and Army Specialist Rasheed Sahib, both from Bushwick, died in May.

Before enlisting in the Army, the combat engineer from East New York was a student at Wingate High School and was enrolled at Touro College. He was the oldest of nine children.

Borough President Marty Markowitz was among those who attended the funeral held at the Vanderveer Park United Methodist Church.

Johnson was interred in the Long Island National Cemetery in Farming-dale with a 21-gun salute, a full honor guard and the playing of "Taps.’’

"Rayshawn Johnson wanted to do something special with his life and joining the Army gave him a sense of purpose and a mission," Borough President Markowitz said. "Rayshawn sacrificed those dreams trying to bring freedom and democracy to the people of Iraq. His courage and bravery will never be forgotten. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this incredibly difficult time. We hope all the men and women serving our country overseas are able to come back home, safe and sound, as quickly as possible."