Johnny Micheal Spann
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Johnny Micheal "Mike" Spann (March 1, 1969 – November 25, 2001) was an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the first American killed in combat after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.
[edit] Biography
Spann was originally from Winfield, Alabama, and in December 1991, while attending Auburn University, he joined the Marine Corps Reserve. After graduating from Auburn with a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice/law enforcement in 1992, Spann enrolled in Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia. He had originally wanted to go into aviation, but served as an artillery expert, specializing in how to direct air and naval firepower toward the enemy on the ground. By 1996, he had earned the rank of Captain. He later went on to serve in the CIA's paramilitary wing, known as the Special Activities Division.
Rioting prisoners captured by opposition fighters killed Spann at a compound in Mazari Sharif in northern Afghanistan. Officials recovered his body from the prison after Afghan Northern Alliance troops backed by U.S. air strikes and UK Special Boat Service and US Special Forces ended an uprising by Taliban and Al Qaeda prisoners.
The length of Spann's military service normally would not have qualified him for burial at Arlington National Cemetery. However, at his family's request, President Bush signed a waiver allowing him to be buried there. Of the 260,000 people interred at Arlington, only a few hundred were buried there after receiving a waiver.
Spann was also memorialized with a star on the wall at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia that commemorates employees who died in the line of duty. The wall currently has 83 stars (as of January 2005), 35 of which remain unidentified for national security reasons. Spann was posthumously awarded the Intelligence Star and the Exceptional Service Medallion.[1]
He is survived by his wife Shannon Spann, an infant son, two daughters, two sisters, and parents Johnny and Gail Spann.
[edit] External links
- Honor Mike Spann - Web site about him, but also deals with John Walker Lindh's activities in Afghanistan, maintained by his family.
- House Concurrent Resolution 281, provided by the Federation of American Scientists - U.S. legislation which honored the memory of Spann.
- Remarks by Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet at funeral of Johnny Micheal Spann - Notes that "Micheal" is correct spelling.
- Got To Decide if He Wants to Live or Die Here’ - The interrogation of John Walker Lindh by Spann, shortly before the uprising that took his life.
[edit] References
- H.Con.Res. 281: Honoring Johnny Micheal Spann. United States House of Representatives. December 11, 2001.
