US Army Sergeant Donna Johnson killed by suicide bomber

29-year-old US Army Sergeant Donna R. Johnson, from Raeford, North Carolina, was one of three North Carolina National Guard personnel killed on 1st October 2012 by a suicide bomber. 

A Taliban insurgent drove a motorcycle packed with explosives into a group of soldiers who were on a patrol in Khost, eastern Afghanistan. 

Sergeant Johnson served with the 514th Military Police Company, 60th Troop Command, Winterville, North Carolina. She joined the North Carolina National Guard in August 2006 and deployed to Iraq from 2007 to 2008. She was a former state prison guard and a military police officer. 

Her family said in a statement they want to remember her "as a mission focused professional who gave her life serving her country and performing a job that she loved and excelled at. She was a reserved and private person who had a close group of friends and four dogs. She is survived by her spouse, Tracy Dice." 

Sergeant Johnson's awards and decorations included the Combat Action Badge, Iraq Campaign Medal and Army Commendation Medal. 

The other soldiers killed were: Sergeant Jeremy Hardison and Sergeant Thomas Butler.