On November 25, 2001, the first American was killed in the Afghan war, during a prisoner uprising in northern Afghanistan.
He was a CIA special operations officer. His name was Johnny “Mike” Spann. His story is not told often enough.
We have written of Mike Spann several times before, each one documenting a different aspect of his life and family he left behind:
Here’s a brief description of his story:
The story of this small band of men has been told, but not told enough.Spann was killed during the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi when Taliban prisoners gained access to weapons and attacked.Spann was killed during that uprising (see video). One of the prisoners was the so-called American Taliban, John Walker Lyndh, who Spann interrogated shortly before Spann’s death.Spann’s wife Shannon also worked for the CIA. In addition to his wife, Spann left behind two daughters and an infant sonSpann’s family established a website to honor his life, and there is a wealth of information and photos at his Arlington National Cemetery page.There is an interesting honor paid to Spann at the website of Afghan General and Warlord Abdul Radhis Dostum, including a link to a photo of the memorial to Spann at the site of the uprising in which he died.
His oldest child, daughter Alison, remembered him last April:
Alison Spann Looks Back on Afghan War from Andrew Smith on Vimeo.
RIP.
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