WFAA-TV

Phyllis Broomfield talks about her son (in framed picture) who died in Iraq Friday.

DENTON - Called the best of the best, 2nd Lt. Johnny Craver of McKinney died instantly Friday in Iraq when he stepped onto a homemade bomb.

"And when they told me he had been killed, the first thing I thought of when I got my mind together was, 'Well son, you can rest now,'" said Phyllis Broomfield, Craver's mother. "They won't be shooting at you any more."

Broomfield said her son wasn't satisfied being just a soldier; he wanted to be among the elite. She said that drive led him to become an Army Ranger instructor and a war zone commander.

The 37-year-old left for Iraq in July, which was on the same day he signed papers on a new house that he never got to sleep in.

"I know I sacrificed something that will never be replaced," Broom field said. "But, I can also lay down in comfort and know that he did what he wanted to do, because that's what he was. He was a leader. He was a hero."

Broomfield, who works at the Denton County Jail, was among a group of people from the sheriff's office who comforted fellow employee and friend Charlene Sauceda when her son was killed in Iraq. An Army specialist, Ernie Dallas Jr. was killed in action in July of last year.

"When we were at Ernie's funeral, I would sit there and look at her and I would think, 'I can't imagine losing a child. I can't imagine what the poor woman's feeling,'" Broomfield said. "Now, I'm feeling it."

Craver left behind his wife Natalie, his 12-year-old daughter Savannah, 8-year-old son Caelen and 3-year-old daughter Emma.

"He was a soldier and a good soldier," Broomfield said. "He'll always be my hero."

Craver's body is expected to arrive Friday at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He will be buried next week.

E-mail sstoler@wfaa.com