I would like to tell you about the Hero on my bracelet.

On a humid day in June 1969, I gave birth to a beautiful 6lb 2 oz boy in McKinney Texas. I named him Johnny Keith Craver.
As the young boy grew up he was a little skinny boy with glasses with a big smile and even bigger heart. He got picked on because of his small frame and being afraid to defend himself.
A bad car accident nearly ended his life and was told it would be a miracle if he survived, I got that miracle. Then the big blow came he came to with enlistments papers to join the United  States Army when he was just 17. I signed the papers and 3 days after graduation he left for basic training.
After the first 2 years he reenlisted for 6 more years and was accepted in Ranger school. He then became a Ranger instructor at Ft. Benning. He competed in the best Ranger competition in 2005, but his partner twisted his ankle and Johnny took his and his partners 80 lb backpack and carried them to the top of the hill. Then in May 2006 he hit me with something harder he volunteered to go to Iraq.
He also graduated from OCS and had nearly completed the hours for his Maters degree when he left for Iraq. He was the first Gold Alumni Member for the Boys and Girls Club of Collin County for all the volunteer work he did as a teenager.
He left for Iraq in July of 2006, six hours after signing the papers with his wife Natalie on a new home he never got to sleep in. He was killed on October 13th 2006 (his grandmother’s birthday). He had 5 more weeks before he would have come home.
Johnny left behind a wife and 3 children and too many others to tell about. He was my hero and his children’s also. He loved the Army and he loved serving his country. Going through an old trunk my daughter in law found a letter addressed to Johnny from the Army dated 1979.
It said sorry to inform you at this time but your request to join the Army has been denied, please reapply in 8 more years when you turn 18. He loved it so much he had tried to join at age 10.
I wear my bracelet with pride and honor and will the rest of my life. I know my son is the leader in a wonderful troop of soldiers in heaven and I will honor him till the day I can join him.
I know it’s not the way my son died that made him a hero, it’s the way he lived.

Thank you for your time,

Phyllis Broomfield proud mother of Lt. Johnny Craver KIA 10/13/06