Funeral Saturday for soldier killed in Iraq
By T&D StaffFriday, February 25, 2005The funeral for an Orangeburg soldier killed Feb. 16 in Iraq will be held Saturday.
Glover's Funeral Home announced Thursday that services for 32-year-old Spc. Katrina Lani Johnson Bell will be held at 2:30 p.m. at St. Mark United Methodist Church in North, with the Rev. Ivery Burnett officiating. Burial will be in Chapel Hill Baptist Church Cemetery in North.
Bell was killed in Baghdad, Iraq, when the truck she was riding in flipped over. She was the seventh soldier with ties to The T&D Region to die in the war.
Johnson, originally from Columbia, was on the track team, chorus and band at Airport High School. She attended Midlands Technical College and received a degree in surgical technology.
She worked at several hospitals, most recently at The Regional Medical Center of Orangeburg & Calhoun Counties, before enlisting in the Army about eight years ago, her family has said.
Johnson was assigned to the 418th Transportation H Platoon based out of Killeen, Texas. She had been posted to Korea, Kuwait, Germany, Missouri, Mississippi and Atlanta.
She was married in Texas and bore a girl named Gabrielle Dana Bell about a year ago. Two months after giving birth, Katrina Johnson was sent to Iraq.
"She came back from Iraq, then they sent her back after six months," her sister said this past week. "She was sent back to Iraq before Christmas."
On Feb. 16, she was riding in a convoy delivering goods for the Army when the truck she was riding in flipped over and came to rest on top of her. Katrina Johnson was killed instantly.
She was the daughter of Charles Williams Johnson and Mrs. Vivian Ann Johnson Huffman of Orangeburg.
Friends may call at the residence of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carl and Vivian Huffman, 225 Bair Road, Orangeburg and at Glover's Funeral Home.

