Michael P. Shannon
Profile
Age: 52
From: Canadensis, PA
Assigned to Headquarters, 7th Army and U.S. Army Europe, Heidelberg, Germany
Incident: Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael P. Shannon died Jan. 17 in Kabul, Afghanistan, of a heart attack
Died: January 17, 2010
Soldier suffers heart attack in Afghanistan
The Associated Press
CANADENSIS, Pa. — Sgt. 1st Class Michael P. Shannon would keep a straight face while telling a joke, his family says, and it often took a moment to realize he was kidding.
Though he had a healthy sense of humor, Shannon was serious about the Army.
“He was a soldier through and through,” said his wife, Donna. “The Army was his life. The only thing equal to the Army in his life was his family.”
Shannon, of Canadensis, suffered a fatal heart attack Jan. 17 while serving in Afghanistan. He was 52.
The New York City native first enlisted in 1977. He earned a bachelor’s degree at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, then a master’s in degree criminal justice at Long Island University in Brookville, N.Y.
He met his wife while working as a corrections officer in New York. He retired in 2001 as an assistant deputy warden.
“His...