Usually when I display my flag it is done for times of joy, happiness and celebration, but today, today I pulled my U.S. flags from their resting place to pay honor to a fallen hero. We just came in from outside where we stood in honor of Corporal Jeffery Johnson, a local hometown hero who gave his life to our country in Afghanistan.

I watched this community pay tribute to a man most of us have not had the honor of meeting. I saw people of all ages line the streets of Tomball. Young and old, regardless of race, color or creed, they lined the streets of this community in a very strange and sobering manner. I can’t tell you how many people were in the procession, but I’m sure someone will have estimates real soon. It didn’t matter whether you were a Republican or Democrat, people were there. It made no difference if you were for or against a particular candidate or political leaning, you were there.

About 1:45 p.m. the afternoon of May 18, 2010, I left our office and walked the few hundred feet out the back of our building and placed myself on the corner of FM 2920 awaiting the moment when the hearse would come by carrying the body of Corporal Johnson. The plane was supposed to land at Hooks Airport at 1:30 p.m. and after an estimated 30-minute ceremony, the convoy of vehicles was to make its way down Main Street toward Klein Funeral Home. After approximately 2:15 p.m., I made a couple of calls from my cell phone checking the estimated time of arrival and was told, “They’re on the way.”

Knowing that Hooks Airport was a short drive outside of town, I began estimating they would arrive shortly. I became jittery inside myself knowing that I had left a pile of work on my desk. As I turned to look back toward my office, our staff began to filter toward the street one by one. I had told them that should they so desire, they could join me on Main Street to pay their personal moment of tribute to this hero. I soon began to calculate the time lost from our office and as I was standing there thinking about these things, my mind suddenly came back to the realization of the seriousness of the moment and I began to chastise myself.

I was standing outside waiting to pay tribute to this young man who had just given more of himself than any of us should have to ask for. Here I was worrying about my work, the lost productivity of my staff, the heat and all of those other things I could think of whenever I brought myself back to the reality that I was being very selfish and inconsiderate to the real issue at hand. Here we have a young man who has given everything a human can give and I was thinking of the carnal things of this life and concerned about me, me, me. It was a thought process I was not proud of and I quickly brought myself back to the real matter at hand.

I stood there in my own thoughts for a while when a helicopter appeared overhead displaying the American flag. The blades hitting the air were giving off that loud, deep sound only a helicopter can produce. It slowly hovered its way down Main Street and then a short while later a very long procession of cars, trucks and motorcycles began to make its way down the street.

First, the local police department came through with sirens clearing the way and blocking the streets. Then several cars later the eerie silence of the moment began as I heard nothing but the hum of the vehicles quietly rolling down the road. I did not hear any laughter, no hollering, no loud or belligerent talking, simply the motors slowly bringing this solider to the place where he will soon be honored in another service until he is laid to rest. The sirens had fallen silent as the flag-draped coffin drove by.

Shortly behind the hearse a line of motorcycles paying honor to this young man lumbered by with a deep earth-shaking rumble. Flags of all sizes were displayed in his honor as I saw men and women drive by with tears in their eyes at the sights they were beholding. This whole procession was created in a matter of a couple of days and this community proudly displayed its patriotism to this fallen hero.

In time he will be enshrouded in the earth. He will forever rest in a place that will bring him quiet solitude and peaceful rest from the activities of this world. Mother Earth will hold him tightly in her bosom much like a mother holds her child. He will no longer be in a place of war. He will no longer worry about the small and trivial things we worry about as humans. He will no longer need the things of this world as he is beginning a new life in the hereafter.

We who remain will forever be grateful to you and your family that have sacrificed the ultimate price that we may be free. Rest in Peace, Corporal Johnson. Rest in Peace.

Clifford

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