Cold War Heroes Series Begins With The First Recorded CIA Casualty, Douglas Mackiernan

Most Cold Warriors have seen a photo of the CIA's Wall of Stars where there are 103 stars depicting the agents that have made the ultimate sacrifice. For those that have not, below is the official image from the CIA Flickr page.

Today's post is about the first man who paid that ultimate price thanks to an article from Lee Edwards at The Daily Signal publication.

Douglas Mackiernan was recruited into the CIA as it formed in 1947 and served in Urumqi in Western China. He observed and reported on the growth of the Soviet nuclear capability.

I'm not one to spoil a good story with my lead in statements so I'll just stop here and allow you to link over to the original article to read the balance of Mr. Mackiernan's exploits.

To access the original story link over here: Meet the Cold War Hero We Should Never Forget

I dug a little deeper to learn more about this man and found the official CIA recognition of his service. You can read their version at this link - Remembering CIA's Heroes: Douglas Mackiernan.

Thank you to Lee Edwards of the Heritage Foundation's, The Daily Signal, for bringing this story to us and for allowing this link to the original article.

Thank you to the CIA.gov website for the access link to their profile of Mr. Mackiernan.