MAYVILLE -- The body of a Wisconsin soldier killed in Afghanistan has arrived home. Lt. David Johnson was the 122nd Wisconsin military service person to die as a result of service in Iraq or Afghanistan.
But Johnson the second resident of Mayville to die in military service in recent years won't be remembered as a statistic in a very tight community.
No ordinary day through the streets of Milwaukee leaving Mitchell International Airport a fallen soldier coming home on a dreary Wisconsin Friday.
The body of first Lt. David Johnson driven to his hometown by hearse far from where he lost his life some 7,000 miles and a world away from his family and community that received him with respect and adoration.
A firing squad giving Johnson military honors
This is the same community where his father is the editor of the town newspaper and David played football and graduated from Mayville High School in 2006. Hundreds young and old and veterans of past wars lined Main Street for the motorcade procession.
The 24-year-old was killed in the Kandahar province of Afghanistan.
He had been deployed for the first time on December 14th January 25th he was killed by an improvised explosive device while on foot patrol.
Mayville with a population of about 5,000 has seen its share heartache since military operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan 20-year old army Specialist Michael Wendling of Mayville was killed in Iraq in 2005 also by an IED.