Sgt. La David Johnson vigorously defended his fellow soldiers during an Oct. 4 Islamic State ambush of a joint U.S.-Nigerian patrol, ABCNews reports.
“He grabbed any and every weapon available to him. The guy is a true war hero,” a survivor of the ambush told ABCNews, adding “without a doubt, his courage and bravery in action that day were above and beyond expectation. He died fighting for his brothers on his team.” The survivor elaborated that Johnson held off ISIS militants with a machine gun before grabbing a sniper rifle and continuing to shoot.
Johnson’s reported heroic actions came after dozens of ISIS militants ambushed a joint U.S.-Nigerien patrol near the Nigeria-Mali border. The ambush left Johnson and three other U.S. soldiers killed, two wounded, and five Nigerian security forces killed. The circumstances of the ambush and subsequent recovery of Johnson’s body remain murky.
Reports indicate that the soldiers were meeting with a village elder reported to have some knowledge on a high level ISIS target’s whereabouts. The elder delayed the meeting, presumably to allow ISIS militants to set their trap, and the team was ambushed in mid-morning.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford told Pentagon reporters Monday that the team took fire for approximately one hour before air support was requested. The delay in air support request could be for a host of reasons, including belief by the team that the firefight was enough for them to handle themselves, Dunford cautioned. After U.S. forces made the call for air support, it then took an additional one hour for French mirage jets to appear overhead, but the jets did not release any munitions on the ISIS militants.
During the hours-long engagement, Johnson was separated from his unit and declared missing. U.S., French, and Nigerian forces remained in the mission area for nearly 48 hours before Johnson’s body was found on Oct. 6 by Nigerian forces.
“We threw everything we had at it … Literally hundreds of people were focused on getting La David back,” the survivor of the raid told ABCNews.
The ISIS affiliate thought to be responsible is known as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, and is led by Abu Walid al Sahrawi. Sahrawi has a long history with militant groups in Mali and at different times having associations with al-Qaida, running his own militia, and finally pledging allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in May 2015.
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