Those who made ultimate sacrifice honored at National Infantry Museum ceremony

Forty-eight years have passed since Sgt. Johnny Vent Johnson made the ultimate sacrifice for his country.

As a medic serving the 2nd Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army, Johnson was stationed in PleiKu, Vietnam on Nov. 22, 1969. He died after running head-on into an ambush to aid other injured soldiers. He continued to treat casualties until overcome by his wounds. He was only 22 at the time of his death, and received the Silver Star posthumously.

On Monday, Johnson was one of more than 200 soldiers honored during a Paver Dedication Ceremony at the National Infantry Museum, where loved ones, comrades and elected officials gathered under the blazing sun.

The crowd sat in reverence as the keynote speaker, Command Sergeant Major John Brady, recounted the heroic acts of Johnson and other soldiers.

“If you were to ask Americans what Memorial Day means, nine in 10 would more than likely get it wrong,” he said. “But those of us here today understand the meaning of Memorial Day, and can sum it up in one word - sacrifice.

“The steep price paid for our freedom is paid by so few but for so many,” he said. “It has been paid by blood, sweat and tears and by so many selfless individuals over the course of so many decades to protect our freedom and keep us safe.”

Among those present were Johnson’s younger brother, Larry Johnson, and his nephew, Scott Harrell, both of whom traveled all the way from his hometown of Livingston, Texas. They were joined by eight of the men that Johnson saved with his heroic act.

After the ceremony, Stan Silva, 69, said there were 20 men in the scout platoon. So the group purchased 21 pavers to be installed at the museum’s Walk of Honor.

“They wanted to put him over in the KIA,” he said. “And we said , ‘No, he’s got to be with us.’”

Johnson , 60, said he was in middle school when his brother went off to Vietnam. The family knew he died trying to aid his comrades, but they didn’t know all the details. They learned more about his death after Harrell began researching the topic. He connected with Silva through an online forum, which led to invaluable information.

“My whole way of thinking was, ‘Okay, he died young, but was he ever happy in his life?;” Johnson said of the brother that he barely knew. “And Stan kind of answered those questions with pictures that he sent and stuff that he had while he was in the military.”

Silva, who traveled from California for the paver dedication ceremony, brought photos of Johnson socializing with other soldiers for the occasion.

“Doc had sunglasses with hearts, we always gave him a hard time about that,” he told his brother on Monday. “But when s--t hit the fan, there was no one else that would even come to us. He didn’t even have a weapon. He picked up his medic bag and he ran through a near ambush. I mean there were bullets flying everywhere, and he was killed. He gave his life for us, and we never forgot it.”

In addition to Johnson, other soldiers highlighted during the ceremony were:

• First Lt. Chase Prasnicki, a star football player from Lexington, Va., who joined the military despite numerous scholarship offers. In July of 2012, he died in Afghanistan when an IED exploded underneath the vehicle he was riding in. At the time, he was a 24-year-old newlywed serving with an artillery unit attached to the 173rd Infantry Brigade.
• Sergeant First Class Mickey Zaun, a chemical operations specialist from Hennepin, Minn. Prior to his death, he served with the 82nd Airborne Division, the 10th Special Forces Group in Colorado Springs and Korea. He was assigned to the Headquarters Company, U.S. Army Special Operations Command out of Fort Bragg when he was killed in Mosul, Iraq, in January of 2005.

Brady told the audience that he, like many of them, had experienced loss in the military.

“It hurts, it stings, it raises questions that will go unanswered,” he said. “I can only imagine what it does for a loved one.”

This story was originally published May 29, 2017 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Those who made ultimate sacrifice honored at National Infantry Museum ceremony."