Christopher J. Speer

Died: August 6, 2002

Rank: Sergeant First Class

Unit: U.S. Army Special Operations Command

Branch: U.S. Army

Sergeant First Class Christopher J. Speer, an Army Special Forces Medic attached to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, died on August 6, 2002, from injuries sustained on July 27, 2002. He and four other Soldiers were wounded when their reconnaissance patrol was ambushed near Khowst in east­ern Afghanistan. Speer was evacuated by air first to Bagram Air Force Base, then to Ramstein Air Base in Germany for evaluation and treatment. His wife flew to be with him for the last week of his life, and she made the decision to remove him from life support and to donate his organs for transplant. At his funeral on August 13, 2002, at the Village Chapel in Pinehurst, North Carolina, Speer was mourned by family, friends, and military comrades.