Elgin soldier comes home with medals

When asked how long he’ll be in the United States this time, Capt. Lonni Johnston said he hopes for the rest of his life.

Johnston, 42, will return to his hometown of Elgin next week after a year in Afghanistan — and he won’t come home empty-handed. Johnston received a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and a Bronze Star with Valor during his latest, and potentially last, deployment.

Johnston joined the Army in 1987, right after graduating from Larkin High School in Elgin. He was the first in his family to enlist and always figured he would make a career out of military service. “I wanted to be a soldier ever since I was a little kid,” Johnston said.

The Purple Heart and the Bronze Star with Valor come from an attack Feb. 12 in Kandahar. Johnston’s role during this deployment was to serve as the mentor for the chief of police in Kandahar City. The attack, Johnston said, probably came from people trying to assassinate the chief — a goal they didn’t achieve until two months later.

For more than four hours of fighting, Johnston led a team of 12 U.S. soldiers and members of the Afghan National Police to hold their own against Taliban members, who fought from the dominant position of a nearby eight-story hotel. A narrative of the attack used to nominate Johnston for the medals said his “actions displayed extreme courage under fire and showed an exceptional amount of leadership which motivated every soldier in his location to fight and win during the Taliban attack.”

Johnston was the only U.S. soldier on the ground during the attack. The rest fought as drivers or machine gunners in the trucks on the compound. Afghan police officers hid at the start of the attack but, spurred on by Johnston’s actions, eventually engaged their opponents as well.

The narrative describes Johnston placing himself in the line of fire to coordinate the U.S. response with complete disregard for his own safety.

“I didn’t think about that,” Johnston said. “I never do. I just knew what needed to be done, and I just did it.”

Johnston’s Purple Heart came from injuries he suffered after a car bomb went off less than 50 meters from where he was standing. He was briefly knocked unconscious, suffering a concussion and permanent damage to his left eye.

As soon as he regained consciousness, though, Johnston was back to helping others. He was the first U.S. soldier back in the compound, again ignoring personal safety.

“I should have waited until I had support from other people to go in there and do that,” Johnston said. “But I knew people were in there dying and every second counted.”

Johnston made it back to the United States on June 27. He plans to be back in Elgin by July 11, where he will spend about a month with his parents and two children.

After more training, he’ll be off to Michigan for his next assignment, which will keep him behind a desk instead of a gun.

After 23 years in the military and between 16 and 20 deployments — so many he lost count — Johnston said adjusting to the slower pace of life will be a test of his abilities.

In terms of what it’s like to be back, though, Johnston said he feels like he never left.

“When you’re deployed your brain switches to another mindset,” Johnston said. “That’s what you do, that’s how you live. When you’re back here, you’re back in the other mode.”

Johnston’s father, Irwin, said he had two sons fighting simultaneously during Desert Storm. But when Johnston was in Kuwait or Panama or Bosnia, his parents hardly worried. Not so for his time in Kandahar.

“This time we were really worried and we can’t wait to get him home,” Irwin Johnston said.

Finally for Johnston’s parents, friends and children, the wait is over.