The Heroes In The Johnson Family

Many families in the United States of America have lost family members in the United States Armed Forces. It is always tough on a family when they find out that a family member has passed away. The Johnson family: A kindhearted family that lives in North Carolina has been through a lot in the last couple of years. The Johnson family had three family members pass away while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Susie Johnson’s dad passed away in the Vietnam War in 1968 when she was just a year old. Her mom told her a lot about her dad when she was growing up. Susie is very proud of her dad for serving his country. She always wears a locket necklace, and inside the locket necklace is a picture of her dad. When Susie’s two boys were younger, Lucas and Logan would always ask their grandma to tell them stories about their grandpa.

Susie’s husband, Jeremy Johnson died two years ago while serving in the United States Armed forces. The night that Susie found out that her husband had died, she had just came home from a 19-hour shift at the hospital when her doorbell rang. She opened the door, and right when she saw the men in uniform, she knew that something terrible had happened. One of the men gave her a letter and it read that Susie’s husband, Jeremy Johnson was killed in action and his body was going to be brought back to the states in a couple of days. Susie fell to the ground and sobbed uncontrollably after she read the letter. She hugged the men in uniform, closed the door, and then just sat on her couch in disbelief that night. Susie's two boys, Lucas and Logan came down the stairs from their bedrooms, and sat beside their mother wondering what was wrong. Susie told her two sweet boys that their father passed away. Lucas and Logan started to shed some tears, and hugged their mother. About a week and a half later, Jeremy was given a full Military honors burial. To this day Susie still has problems dealing with the death of her husband. Sometimes she has a dream that Jeremy is not dead and everything is okay. Every day is different for Susie. Some days she is okay, but other days she has a hard time dealing with the loss of her husband. How does Susie get through it? Ever since her husband died, she has been attending a support group for wives who lost their husbands in the Military, She has been busy taking care of her two boys, and she has been very busy with her career as a doctor.

Four months after Susie’s husband died, her 20-year-old son’s Lucas and Logan sat her down one afternoon and explained to her that they want to join the Military. They said that they admire what their father did for their country. Susie was scared to death because she did not want to lose her two boys. She had to take some time to think about her son's decision to join the Military. After a couple of days of thinking about it, she told them that she is proud that they want to serve their county and she knows that their father is looking down from above so proud of them two. A year and a half later Lucas and Logan were both deployed. Susie hoped and prayed that her two boys would come home safely after their 6-month deployment was over. With three days left in Logan and Lucas’s deployment, Lucas was out on patrol with a couple other soldiers and Lucas was shot and killed. Other soldiers told Logan that his twin brother is no longer alive and he sobbed uncontrollably. The commander of Logan’s unit told Logan that he could go home early to tell his mom Susie that Lucas had died. 30 hours later, Logan’s bus pulled up to Camp Levine with the screaming families excited to see their family members coming home. Logan saw his mom, Susie standing right beside the bus smiling and getting ready to hug both of her sons. As Logan walked off the bus, Susie bolted towards the bus and gave her son a huge hug. Logan’s eyes began to fill up with tears and he told his mom that Lucas passed away. Susie dropped to the ground, put her head down and cried uncontrollably. Logan took his mom’s hand and they walked toward the car to head home. While Logan was driving back to the house, his mom just could not believe that Lucas was gone. When they got home, Susie went to the couch and just sat down in shock. Logan was trying hard to stay strong for his mom, but that night he couldn’t help but burst into tears out on the front porch of their house and drink a couple of beers. The next day he started to help his mom plan Lucas’s funeral and within a week Lucas was given a full Military honors burial.

A week later, it was Memorial Day. Susie and Logan stopped at Susie‘s dad‘s grave site, Susie’s husbands grave site, and Lucas’s grave site that day. They put a Memorial Day wreath on each of the graves, planted some flowers, and said a couple of prayers. After Susie and Logan were done visiting Lucas’s grave, they went to Logan’s Military base, Camp Levine. Camp Levine was hosting a memorial/tribute ceremony for all of the soldiers who passed away during their deployment. During the ceremony, General Stevenson showed a memorial plaque to the families. The plaque had pictures of every soldier that was from Camp Levine and was killed in action. Right when they took the cover off the plaque, Susie and Logan saw Lucas’s name and picture on the plaque. Both of them started to shed some tears. After the ceremony was over, General Stevenson walked over to Susie and Logan. He told Logan and Susie to meet him in his office in about 10 minutes. Logan and Susie both had concerned looks on their faces but they started to walk over to General Stevenson’s office. About 10 minutes later, General Stevenson opened the door to his office and invited them both in to sit down. He started his conversation by saying that he was very sorry to hear that Lucas had passed away. General Stevenson said that he knows that Logan did a great job on his deployment and he wants to offer Logan a job as a military recruiter. Susie’s face looked happy when General Stevenson offered Logan the job. Logan thought about it a bit and said yes he would accept the job. Now that Lucas has accepted the job as a Military recruiter, the chances of him being deployed are very slim. After Logan and General Stevenson finished their conversation, Logan shook his hand and walked out the door with his mom. When they got home, Susie hugged her son tight and said that she was so glad that he was going to be home permanently.

A couple of days later, Logan started his new job as a Military recruiter and Susie got back into her normal routine with her career as a doctor. Almost every day Susie and Logan visit the graves of the family members they lost. Every Memorial Day, Susie and Logan have decided to devote the day to Susie’s dad, Susie’s husband, and Logan’s twin brother Lucas- three people who will always be remembered and be in the hearts of Susie and Logan.

-Realistic Fiction Short Story.