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Johnson\u2019s mother died when he was 5; he was raised by his aunt. His family enrolled him in 5000 Role Models, a project Wilson began in 1993 when she was an educator where African-American boys are paired with mentors who prepare them for college, vocational school or the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe teach them to be a good man, a good husband and a good father. Sgt. Johnson typified all of those characteristics,\u201d said mourner Carlton Crawl, a public school consultant who is one of the program\u2019s mentors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2013, a year before he enlisted, Johnson was featured in a local television newscast for his ability to do bicycle tricks, earning the nickname \u201cWheelie King.\u201d He said he learned his tricks by going slow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnce you feel comfortable, you could just ride all day,\u201d he told the interviewer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The war of words between the president and Wilson began Tuesday when the Miami-area Democrat said Trump told Myeshia Johnson in a phone call that her husband \u201cknew what he signed up for\u201d and didn\u2019t appear to know his name, a version later backed up by Johnson\u2019s aunt. Wilson was riding with Johnson\u2019s family to meet the body and heard the call on speakerphone. She was principal of a school Johnson\u2019s father attended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump tweeted Wilson \u201cfabricated\u201d his statement and the fight escalated through the week. Trump in other tweets called her \u201cwacky\u201d and accused her of \u201cSECRETLY\u201d listening to the phone call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s chief of staff, John Kelly, entered the fray on Thursday. The retired Marine general asserted that the congresswoman had delivered a 2015 speech at an FBI field office dedication in which she \u201ctalked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building,\u201d rather than keeping the focus on the fallen agents for which it was named. Video of the speech contradicted his recollection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wilson, who is black, fired back Friday when she told The New York Times: \u201cThe White House itself is full white supremacists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The retorts persisted on Saturday morning, with Trump tweeting: \u201cI hope the Fake News Media keeps talking about Wacky Congresswoman Wilson in that she, as a representative, is killing the Democrat Party!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mourners remembered not only a U.S. soldier whose combat death in Africa led to a political fight between President Donald Trump and a Florida congresswoman but his three comrades who died with him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":87844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[16,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[522],"class_list":["post-47637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FGPTY5JRDBFB3JUGDLDAUDY73I","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2017\/10\/21\/funeral-held-for-sgt-la-david-johnson\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_17294081372939.jpg.jpg\")
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