Michelle DeFord is proud that her father fought in the Army in World War II, that her husband is an Air Force veteran of Vietnam.

"We consider ourselves a military family — I’ve always felt it was a good thing to serve in the military," she said.

But the Salem resident doesn’t believe the war in Iraq is a good thing, a point she intends to hammer home during a presentation beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Medford Public Library.

"Our goal is to put a more human face on this war, to show people the human cost," said DeFord, one of two Gold Star mothers scheduled to speak. Both lost sons in Iraq.

One human face she sees is that of Sgt. David W. Johnson, 37, of Portland, who was killed Sept. 25, 2004, in Baghdad while serving with the Oregon Army National Guard.

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The soldier was her son.

"To lose a child is just devastating," she said. "And to have the feeling that his life was wasted in this war, that the war was based on lies, that it didn’t need to be fought. ...

"There is this attitude from some of these guys (in the Bush administration), kind of a bravado thing, that we’ll take out Iraq, then have a toehold in the Middle East," she added. "There doesn’t seem to be any value for the human lives that are being lost."

Since the war began in March 2003, 2,270 Americans in uniform have died.

She and her husband, Steve, were opposed to the war at the outset, but their son felt an allegiance to the Guard members with whom he had served, she said. He went back into the Guard after the 2001 terrorist attack on the United States.

"Once we realized his unit was going to be deployed, we didn’t talk about it," she said. "Coming from a military family, we didn’t want him to feel conflicted.

"It’s an honor thing with soldiers, that they take care of each other and watch each other’s backs," she added. "We had to support him at that point."

However, since his death, both she and her husband, a professional forester, have been speaking out against the war. She was operating a mail-order nursery but has since sold it to focus on her opposition to the war in Iraq.

"There was never a connection between Iraq and the WMDs," she said of weapons of mass destruction, one of the reasons originally cited for going to war. "The decision to go to war should have been a last resort."

The bottom line, she believes, is that American troops in Iraq should be brought home as soon as possible.

"After the first Gulf War, they should have realized the guys would need armored Humvees," she said. "They didn’t secure the ammunition dumps, just the oil fields."

Leaving the ammunition dumps unguarded resulted in vast amounts of weaponry and explosives falling into the hands of the insurgents now using them to make roadside bombs, she said.

"Our son was killed by a roadside bomb while he was in an unarmored Humvee," she said.

Although his military job was a cook, he was made into a machine-gunner because the Halliburton company was awarded a private contract to provide meals for the military, she said.

"We really feel the National Guard has been abused and misused," she said, noting its units have been stretched thin as a result of the war.

DeFord, who has talked to her son’s comrades-in-arms about him, said it took six months for the pain of his death to really sink in.

"We had gotten so active after David died," she said, adding that keeping busy helped mask the anguish.

Their son — they have a younger son — wasn’t married but left a girlfriend, she said.

"He was his own person," she said. "His passions were music and cooking. He loved to ride his motorcycle.

"He was a good son," she added quietly.

Mothers will speak in Medford, Klamath Falls, Grants Pass

Bradach is the mother of Travis Bradach-Nall, 21, a Marine killed by a land mine July 2, 2003, in Iraq.

Friday’s session begins at 6:30 p.m. in the large meeting room at the Medford Main Library, 205 S. Central Ave., Medford.

They will be at the Episcopal Church at 801 Jefferson St. in Klamath Falls from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. A potluck for the event begins at 1 p.m.

A Grants Pass presentation on Sunday will be held at the Grants Pass Museum of Art on G Street. They will begin speaking at 1 p.m. following a potluck beginning at noon. A donation of $3 is suggested in Grants Pass.

Both are members of Oregon Gold Star Families for Peace and Military Families Speak Out.

The tour is being organized by the Rural Organizing Project.

The Medford session is being sponsored by Citizens for Peace & Justice of Medford, the Applegate Citizens for Political Change and Southern Oregon Veterans for Common Sense.

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.