For Sofia:
Bush happy to sacrifice others
Slain soldier's mother critical of Bush
Grieving parent slams White House as unappreciative
By Dick Foster, Rocky Mountain News
November 19, 2003
COLORADO SPRINGS - The grieving mother of a Fort Carson soldier killed in Iraq scolded the Bush administration Tuesday for failing to acknowledge her son's sacrifice and those of other soldiers and their families.
Elaine Johnson, the mother of Spc. Darius T. Jennings, said Bush visited her home state of South Carolina last week as the family prepared to bury Jennings but did not visit her family or acknowledge his death.
"On the Monday before I buried my son, he (Bush) was in Greer, S.C., at the BMW plant," Johnson said after a memorial service at Fort Carson for the 22-year-old husband and soldier from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.
No one in the administration traveled to their hometown of Cordova to visit, and no one called or wrote to offer condolences, Johnson said.
"Evidently my son wasn't important enough to him dead for him to visit the family or call the family. As long as my son was alive he was important because he sent him over there to fight a war," she said.
Johnson's discontent was the first such public expression from families of Fort Carson casualties. Most families of the 27 who have died said little about the Bush administration, but they voiced support for the war as necessary to free Iraq from an oppressive dictator and safeguard America from terrorism.
Jennings was one of four Fort Carson soldiers killed in the Nov. 2 crash of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter that was carrying them to the Baghdad airport for two-week rest and recuperation leave.
Johnson said some expression of sympathy was the least the administration could do for families who have given their sons and daughters to the war. She says the administration should send someone to every soldier's funeral.
"I feel a representative of this country should have been here to pay their last respects to my son," she said.
The White House issued a statement Tuesday after Johnson spoke.
"The president has said frequently that we are saddened by the loss of any one of our troops who pay the ultimate sacrifice serving our nation," said White House spokesman Jim Morrell.
"As the president has traveled the country, he has met with families of soldiers who have been killed. The president has said that the loss of life is terrible and it is borne especially by the families left behind," he said.
Johnson has just begun to bear that loss.
"Darius was a fine, respectable, young mama's boy who loved his country and fought for his country," she said.
At Fort Carson's Soldiers' Memorial Chapel, members of Jennings' 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment remembered a skilled, good-spirited young man who always looked out for others in his unit.
He enlisted in 2001 for three years, with hopes of earning money for college, where he hoped to pursue photography.
Soldiers said he was always eager to show his photographs, but his job came first and foremost while he served.
Standing guard at an Iraqi artillery dump one evening, Jennings' squad captured several insurgents who were removing more than 1,000 mortar rounds for use against U.S. troops.
Staff Sgt. Kevin Brown, who was wounded in a grenade attack soon after their unit arrived in Iraq, said Jennings visited him in the hospital and prayed with him.
Capt. James Tayhoff recalled that Jennings would find him early every morning as he drank his first cup of coffee and ask the captain how he was doing.
"One morning I asked him why he always kept finding me in the morning. He said, 'Sir, you've got a lot of stuff to deal with. I just wanted to make sure you were OK.' ''
"What a great kid,'' said Tayhoff.
"It hurts," he said of the loss. "It hurts a lot.''
