In the Line of Duty
The CIA is an often maligned agency, but it has its stars, and certainly its youthful operative Johnny “Mike” Spann was one of them--the first American killed in the line of duty in Afghan combat (Nov. 29). Many Americans don’t know that the first U.S. fatality in Vietnam was 28-year-old Lt. Col. A. Peter Dewey, a senior U.S. representative in Saigon in 1945. This young OSS officer (Office of Strategic Services, a predecessor to the CIA) was ambushed in his jeep by the Vietminh while on his way to the airport.
Our nation should be grateful for men like Spann and Dewey. They run where the brave dare not go and are the first to see action in hot spots and popgun wars all over the world.
Mike Nally
Garden Grove
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