I'm Still Standing: From Captive U.S. Soldier to Free Citizen--My Journey Home »

Shoshana Nyree Johnson was born in the Republic of Panama and moved to the United States with her family when she was a child. A second-generation Army veteran, she did not plan a career in the military, but became a JROTC cadet in 1991 and joined the U.S. Army in September 1998 while attending classes at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

Shoshana Johnson, the first black female soldier in America's history to be taken as a prisoner of war, presents the much-anticipated story of her capture and imprisonment in Iraq and what happened after her rescue.

In March 2003, Operation Iraqi Freedom was barely in its infancy when a U.S. Army supply convoy was attacked in Iraq. Several soldiers were killed and six were taken prisoner. Their captors released a grainy video revealing the faces of the first POWs of the war in Iraq. One of the female soldiers was Shoshana Johnson, the first black female prisoner of war in America's military history. The other was Jessica Lynch who caught the media's attention.

Now, after years of coming to terms with her capture and its aftermath, Shoshana recounts her full story with candor, exposing her emotions and frustrations and addressing her fears. For the first time, she'll also explain the strange decision made by higher-ups that led to their weapons jamming during the fight...

Publishers Weekly

Johnson gained national attention as America's first black female prisoner of war. She was in the 507th Maintenance Company convoy ambushed on March 23, 2003, in Nasiriyah, and captured with five other soldiers including Jessica Lynch. One might call Johnson's presence in a firefight a compound accident. She was a cook who had enlisted in 1998 hoping to earn money for her education and perhaps “meet a nice guy,” and was a cook with the 507th, which existed to maintain Patriot missiles. But she was sent with the convoy, and the bullets Johnson took in both ankles did not ask for her military occupational specialty. Though objectively treated well enough by her Iraqi captors, she was wounded, female, and black: three reasons for being afraid. Rescued three weeks later in a daring raid, Johnson emerged with a Bronze Star, a case of post-traumatic stress disorder, and an unwanted celebrity status sufficiently resented by the system that she left the army. Johnson endured her captivity with courage and emerged with honor. With the help of former army reservist Doyle, she vividly, simply, and unpretentiously tells her tale . (Feb.)