Burial Service
For
Mike Spann
December 9, 2001
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, VA
Barry E. Bryson

How the mighty have fallen in the midst of battle ...How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished.
II Samuel 1.25a, 27

Now when Job's three friends heard of all the adversity that had come upon him they came each from his own place ...and when they lifted up their eyes at a distance, and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. ..then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they say his pain was very great.
Job 2.11-13

They were at a loss. Job's friends, because of his great loss.

   And so also are we,

          at a loss

                    because of your loss.

We gather around you, not three but three hundred million of us, because you have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother. We have lost a friend, a patriot, a hero.

Mike Spann was the kind of man we dream of growing up to be when we are boys - tough, kind, strong, fair, fully committed to God, to family, to country. He was a warrior in the highest, best sense of that word. So like David - Courageous and prepared because his highest aim was to please God, protect his family, and preserve his nation.

A man like Mike is irreplaceable, rare. And so we are at a loss - for words, for deeds, for feelings.

What we desire most of all now is some handle on things, some explanation. We want to know "why?"  If God is, and God reigns, and Right will triumph then how could this have happened?

This is what Job wanted to know as well, and he was surrounded by friends who did speak, and offer unsatisfying answers. But he knew he needed a word from God. He needed God to make sense of it all.  And so do we.

And God does. He answers Job. But He didn't teU him "why". God told Job "Who". God told Job,             "Who laid the foundation of the earth. Who makes the snow fall. Who causes babies to form in the womb. Who pushes the stars around their courses."

And for Job, this is everything.

Knowing "why" is not always possible for our finite minds, and it rarely empowers us to undo evil, or prevent evil men from doing evil again.

But knowing "Who" makes all the difference,

          always,

                    always.

We are all just children. Beloved, see what great love the father has given us that we should be called the "children of God, " and this indeed is who we are. I John 3.1

There is so much you can not explain to a child. A ten month old can't comprehend evaporation, or the prismatic effect that causes a rainbow. He certainly can not understand why he needs an inoculation to prevent diphtheria. All a ten month old knows as he sits in the pediatrician's examination room, is that his mother or father held him while some stranger jabbed him with a needle - all he knows is that his parent was either unconcerned about or complicit in his pain - an yet

          and yet

          whom does he reach for when he cries from the pain but that same parent.

We are that Child.

Now, hurt and confilsed, you have the urge to hold on - hold on to each other, hold on to God. It is an honest urge. Yield to it.

Hold on.

Hold on.

Because despite all we do not know, we do not doubt that:
He is. He cares. He can, and He will!

Praise be to God for his precious, abundant gifts; and may all our prayers, and all God's blessings be with you constantly.

 

Expressions of Sympathy can be sent to Mike's parents,

Johnny and Gail Spann
P.O. Box 308
Winfield, AL 35594.  

A fund has been established for Allison and Emily and contributions will be sent to Michael

Spann Memorial Trust Fund
P.O. Box 550
Winfield, Alabama 35594

Slain CIA officer buried at Arlington

 

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN

Associated Press

 

ARLINGTON CIA officer Johnny Michael "Mike" Spann. the only American to die at the hands of the enemy in Afghanistan, was buried among the ranks of the fallen .Monday at Arlington National Cemetery. The Manassas Park resident was remembered as a hero as he was interred with crisp precision and fall military honors by the Marine Corps, where he was a captain of artillery before he joined the CIA. "From his earliest days ... he worked to do what was right." CIA Director George J. Tenet told mourners, including many of Spann's fellow intelligence officers. Mike understood it's not enough simply to dream of a better, safer world. He understood it has to be built." Spann's wife, Shannon, also a CIA employee, carried their infant son wrapped in a white blanket against the chilly day. She sat before her husband's coffin, which was borne by six Marines and draped in an American flag. Spann’s two young daughters, parents and other family members stood nearby. "I want to tell you my husband is a hero." Shannon Spann said. "Mike is a hero not because of the way he died, but because of the way he lived."

"We have all lost a patriot," said the Barry Bryson the family's minister, who conducted the ceremony. "He was fully committed to his God. his family and his nation." Seven Marines fired three volleys each from their rifles. Another Marine played taps, and an officer gave Spann's flag to his wife. The ceremony ended as members of Spann's family silently kneeled before the coffin. Spann's white grave marker will stand among the tens of thousands buried at Arlington. Not far from Spann's grave is Gen. John Pershing, who led U.S. troops in World War I. Other war dead from Afghanistan were memorialized Monday at Fort Campbell, Ky. Master Sgt. Jefferson "Donnie" Davis, 39, of Watauga. Term.; Staff Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser. 28, of Frazier Park, Calif.; and Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Petithory, 32. of Cheshire, Mass., all Green Berets, were killed when a U.S. bomb missed its target near Kandahar. "Children are able to laugh, play and sing because of what they did." Lt. Col. Frank Hudson told a crowd of mourners that overflowed Memorial Chapel. Spann, a paramilitary officer with the CIA's Special Activities Division, left the Marines to join the intelligence service 2½ years ago. Rioting prisoners shot and killed him at the Taliban prison uprising at Mazar-e-Sharif on Nov. 25. He had been interviewing Taliban and al-Qaida fighters, including American John Walker, after their surrender of the nearby city of Kunduz. The CIA allowed Spann's fellow covert officers, who try to keep their identities secret, to decide whether to attend the semi-public burial on Monday. The agency will hold a private service for him today, spokesman Mark Mansfield said. He described employees as saddened but resolute. "The importance of the mission is what keeps people energized and focused," Mansfield said. The length of Spann's military' service did not qualify him for burial at Arlington. At his family's request, President Bush signed a waiver allowing him to be buried there, a White House spokesman said. Of the 260,000 people buried at Arlington, only a few hundred were buried there after receiving a waiver. ''

A memorial service was held last week in his hometown of Winfield, Ala. A graduate of Aubum University, Spann left the Marine Corps to join the CIA in June 1999. In addition to Spann and the three Green Berets, five U.S. personnel have died in connection with the conflict in Afghanistan, all outside the country. Four died in accidents: a fifth committed suicide. The CIA is heavily involved in the Afghanistan conflict, working covertly alongside the more public military effort. CIA officers have been providing weapons, money and intelligence to rebel groups opposing the Taliban and al-Qaida, as well as interrogating prisoners captured during the fighting. Spann is the 79th CIA employee to die in the line of duty. Each of the first 78 has a star on the wall in the lobby of the agency's main building in Langley. Spann's will be added in the coming months. The CIA Officers Memorial Foundation has established the Mike Spann Fund to support his wife and children. The foundation is newly created to assist the families of intelligence officers killed in the line of duty. Contributions may be sent to:

The Mike Spann Fund

c/o Jeffrey H. Smith Esq., .Arnold and Porter

555 12th St. N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20004.