Barbara Boxer: “Very sadly, this morning I come down to pay tribute to five young Americans who were killed in the Iraqi war, all of…”

“Very sadly, this morning I come down to pay tribute to five young Americans who were killed in the Iraqi war, all of them from California or based in California. I have done this before. We have lost an additional 10 to whom I have payed tribute already, and that is a very large proportion of those who have been lost. As we pray for all of those in harm's way, I think it is important to put a human face on war, and therefore I come down to discuss the great loss we feel in our State. First is Navy Hospital Corpsman Third Class Michael Vann Johnson, Jr., age 25, killed on Tuesday, March 25, in Iraq, while attending to injured marines. He was assigned to the Naval Medical Center, 3rd Marine Division Detachment, in San Diego, CA. Michael was born and raised in Arkansas and graduated from Parkview High School in Little Rock. He attended the University of Central Arkansas in Conway before joining the Navy in 1997. He is survived by his wife in San Diego, his parents, and his seven siblings. I send them my deepest condolences.”