‘He was a good kid’: Miami Gardens remembers their fallen soldier on Memorial Day

Six years after his death in combat — which made national headlines — the memory of Sgt. La David T. Johnson remains strong for many.

Johnson, who was felled in 2017 in an ambush in Niger at age 25, was remembered Monday as a neighbor, son and friend at a Memorial Day gathering hosted by the city of Miami Gardens.

“He joined the military, because he wanted to fight for his country,” said his adoptive mother, Cowanda Johnson.

Johnson, along with others in the military who sacrificed their lives while on duty, was honored at the sixth annual Sgt. La David T. Johnson Memorial Day Breakfast. The event drew 160 residents to the community’s single-story Senior Family Center at 18330 NW 12th Ave.

Those who attended included Johnson’s siblings, including brother Shavarius Johnson and Ericka Pollock.

The event started with a moment of silence in honor of fallen soldiers and the national anthem. Attendees later listened to speeches by the former mayor of Miami Gardens Oliver Gilbert, who is the current Miami-Dade County Commissioner for District 1, and the event’s keynote speaker, musician and veteran Maxine Reyes.

Guests sat at one of 14 tables, decorated in red, white and blue table cloths with silver plates adorned with small American flags. Vases sat at the center of most tables, spilling with baby’s breath, orchids and red, white and navy blue roses.

“To those we lost, we cannot bring them back,” Reyes said. “What you and I can do today is remember them.”

During the latter half of the event, the room was filled with chatter and music — think the likes of Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” and Rufus and Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody” — as attendees lined up to a breakfast buffet. Scrambled eggs, bacon, waffles were piled onto plastic plates. Cups were filled with coffee, orange juice or fresh fruit.

The event’s namesake spent his entire life in Miami Gardens, working in the neighborhood’s Walmart on Northwest 27th Avenue and graduating from Miami Carol City Senior High. Johnson skipped college to go straight into the military, much to the great concern of Cowanda Johnson. Johnson’s biological mother died when he was 5 years old. Johnson went onto raise her adopted son and he became one of her 11 kids.

Johnson and three others were killed in Niger when a joint patrol of U.S. and Nigerien forces was ambushed on Oct. 4, 2017, by militants believed to be linked to the Islamic State group.

An uproar followed Johnson’s death, after former President Donald Trump’s made a controversial call to Johnson’s widow. Trump was reported to have told Johnson’s widow that her husband, “knew what he signed up for.” Trump later disputed the conversation.

Zero talk of politics and controversy filled the room at Monday’s breakfast. Rather, memories about him were shared by those who had known him, including the city’s mayor Rodney Harris.

“We did know him. We used to see him ride his bicycle,” Harris said. “His family is vital to this community. We tell them thank you for his service and his sacrifice.”

Aside from his family who attended the ceremony, Johnson is survived by his widow, Myeshia Johnson, and their three kids, who are now based in Tampa and did not attend Monday’s event.

The national holiday — meant to pay tribute to fallen soldiers — comes at a hard time for Johnson’s adoptive mother.

After the morning’s event, she planned to revisit a place she often frequented — Johnson’s grave at Fred Hunter Cemetery on Taft Street. She would take him the bouquet presented to her family at the event.

He was a good kid. The way he was killed, it really, really made me so angry. He never drank. He never smoked. He finished school,” Cowanda Johnson said. “He was a good kid. That’s what angered me the most.”