[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 173 (Thursday, December 13, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2276]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E2276]]
          HONORING THE SACRIFICE MADE BY JOHNNY MICHAEL SPANN

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. TERRY EVERETT

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 11, 2001

  Mr. EVERETT. Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleagues in the House and 
with the residents of my home state of Alabama in paying tribute to an 
American who gave his life in service to freedom.
  Johnny Micheal Spann, a native of Winfield, Alabama and graduate of 
Auburn University, was the first American killed in the ongoing war 
against terrorism in Afghanistan.
  Spann, who served his country for eight years in the U.S. Marine 
Corps before working as an intelligence officer in the Central 
Intelligence Agency, gave his life on November 25 at the young age of 
32, leaving behind a wife and three children.
  On Monday, he was laid to rest among our country's heroes in 
Arlington National Cemetery in a service that touched the hearts of all 
gathered along those hallowed hills overlooking our nation's capital.
  ``Mike is a hero not because of the way he died, but rather the way 
he lived,'' his widow noted. ``Mike was prepared to give his life in 
Afghanistan because he was prepared to give his life every day at 
home.''
  I was pleased to join my colleagues in support of H. Con. Res. 281, 
which passed the House Tuesday, honoring Johnny Micheal Spann. I would 
like to extend my personal condolences to his wife, Shannon, and his 
family. America shares both the personal sorrow of your loss and the 
sense of pride for Mike's courageous and dutiful service to the nation 
he so loved. May God bless you all.

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