Penn State alumnus killed in action will get Purple Heart

[thedrifter]

Posted on August 24, 2009 4:59 AM
Penn State alumnus killed in action will get Purple Heart
By Katie Sullivan
Collegian Staff Writer

William J. Cahir -- Penn State alumnus, journalist, Marine, congressional candidate, husband, expectant father and fallen Marine -- could be described by friends, family and supporters in one word: honorable.

Cahir's friend and campaign adviser, David Price, spoke of the Bellefonte native with admiration at a memorial reception at The Penn Stater Hotel on Sunday afternoon, where more than 100 family members, friends and former co-workers gathered to celebrate his life. People hugged and consoled each other under a large slideshow documenting Cahir's endeavors.

"This was a really smart, really educated, well-connected guy," Price said.

Cahir was killed Aug. 13 by a single gunshot to the neck while serving with the 4th Civil Affairs Group, patrolling the Helmand River Valley in Afghanistan, a Taliban stronghold.

The 40-year-old was on his third tour with the Marines.

His death has shocked and saddened many around the region, including friends at Penn State. University spokesman Bill Mahon said it's tough to lose such a well-respected member of the Penn State community.

"The entire Penn State family offers its condolences to the Cahir family," Mahon said. "He served his country well. It's hard to see another Penn Stater die overseas."

Cahir will be awarded the Purple Heart posthumously Sept. 13, and will be buried in Arlington Cemetery, according to a press release sent by Price.

A memorial fund has been established to benefit his family, which will go toward the care of his wife, Rene, who is pregnant with twins -- the couple's first children.

The fund will also aid in the children's future education.

Price said the Cahir family has been dealing with the loss as well as can be expected. Their true colors have shown through in these moments of tragedy, he said.

"They are an amazing, loving family," Price said. "The way they relate to each other ... it's so obvious this is a strong family."

Many members of the political community, including Rep. Glenn "GT" Thompson, who released a statement after Cahir's death, have made positive comments on Cahir's character and honor.

"The death of Bill Cahir is tragic and an impossible blow to his family," Thompson said in the statement. "He was a conscientious man who saw service to his country as a high and honorable calling. He deserves the praise and admiration of all who knew him, and he deserves the honors bestowed by a grateful nation."

Price has no doubt in his mind what he will say to Cahir's children about their father in the future.

"When it all comes down to it, he was Bill," Price said. "He was an honorable man, in every cell of his body."


Timeline of Duty

Dec. 20, 1968 - Bill Cahir born to John and Mary Anne Cahir
1990 - Cahir graduates from PSU with an English degree
2003 - Cahir leaves his career and enlists in the Marines
2004-2007 - Cahir serves two tours in Iraq
May 2009- Cahir is deployed to Afghanistan
Aug. 13 - Cahir is killed by a single gunshot to the neck while on patrol
Sept. 13 - Cahir will be awarded the Purple Heart posthumously

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Bill Cahir, Marine sergeant, was a newspaper man who got to 'stop the presses' thanks to Bush-Gore
Posted by jowens August 23, 2009 04:09AM

People have seen in the movies what so many journalists dream of doing.

A big story breaks while a mammoth press is already churning out the next day's edition of the newspaper. The ink-stained newsman leaps from his desk, runs down the steps into the pressroom and shouts, "Stop the presses!"

Some journalists go a whole career without doing it. In several decades in the business, I've been a part of such exhilaration several times, but only once on multiple occasions on the same evening.

It was November 2000 and the general election pitted Democrat Al Gore against Republican George W. Bush in the campaign for president. Most of you know the story. The nation went to bed believing Bush had captured a narrow victory, then results in Florida seemed to go the other way and ... as you know, weeks later a court decision handed the race to Bush and years later people still argue about the outcome.

Politicians have victory celebrations or forlorn thank you parties for supporters on election night. News people have often opted for "thank goodness the campaign is over" gatherings with fellow newshounds.


Such a gathering was under way in the wee hours of that November morning when I arrived along with Express-Times Washington, D.C., correspondent Bill Cahir at the home of colleagues fewer than two blocks away from the newspaper plant. Everyone was watching TV news, paying close attention to the sudden change of direction in Florida. The phone rang. An editor in the newsroom was calling for me.
"I'll be right there," I told the other end of the line.

Cahir had just fixed himself a beverage, but said to me, "Joe, can I come with you? I never stopped the presses before."

We hustled the two blocks back and did the deed. Unfortunately, we were forced to do it again that night, because no one knew just what the heck was going on in Florida or elsewhere, for that matter. Our three front pages, which since made their way to the Newseum in Washington, D.C., finished with the banner headline "President Who?"

Bill Cahir joined the ranks of those who experienced a "stop the presses" proclamation, but I'm willing to say he might be the only person to do it with a gin and tonic in his hand.

Cahir was killed Aug. 13 in Afghanistan. He was a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant serving as a civil affairs officer after having fulfilled a dream by enlisting as a 34-year-old who held off the calling until it overcame him in the wake of the murderous Sept. 11 terror attacks. He made it through two stints in Iraq, ran unsuccessfully in a 2008 central Pennsylvania Democratic congressional primary and earlier this year got called up for a third deployment. He and his wife Rene Browne had no children but she is pregnant with twin girls who are expected to arrive in the fall.

I'm sorry to say I was unaware of some of that information until I learned of Cahir's death. I had spent newsroom election nights with Cahir, lunched with him in the nation's capital and had hundreds of telephone conversations with him over the course of about eight years, but had lost track of him in the last year or so. He had given up his newspaper job to run for Congress. He called in the middle of last year, shortly after his primary loss, and that was the last we spoke. So, when I got a call a week ago Thursday that he was killed in Afghanistan, well ... it hurt. He was in Afghanistan? Did he and Rene have a child? She's pregnant?!?!

Cahir had spoken with me in the months and weeks leading up to his decision to enlist. He believed it was a long shot, but if you knew Bill Cahir, you knew he would meet the challenge head on, and he did. I probably told him more than once that I thought he was crazy. I have the greatest admiration and respect for people who serve our country. I'm a proud child of a World War II veteran.

Bill is not the first person to leave an interesting and fulfilling career in turning to service to this country. He was also not the only one inspired by the dastardly acts of Sept. 11. In the last few days, I've heard more than one comparison to Pat Tillman, the Arizona Cardinals defensive back who did the same thing and also lost his life. Unlike Tillman, Cahir did not walk away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract. I didn't know Tillman and I don't know first-hand what motivated him.
I knew Bill Cahir, and while I probably knew what motivated Cahir as he made his way through the process of joining and serving the Marines, it struck me in the days after his death what made most sense about him joining the military.

Some people are drawn to military service because they want to harm the enemy. Cahir absolutely saw it as a way to help people. In his civil affairs role, he told me about meeting with village mayors, establishing communities and working to provide services that weren't in Iraq before or after the U.S. invasion.

That's what drew him.

In the topsy-turvy world of news gathering, those of us who knew Cahir have done what he would have done in the wake of the death of a colleague. We worked to cover the story. Where was he? How did it happen?
We don't always have time to reflect or mourn in the way far too many others have done as they lose loved ones who have given their lives in the service of our country.

I expect there will be time to do that. For me, the first step happened when I realized he wasn't crazy.

Bill Cahir believed to the core of his soul that the only way he could make a profound difference in the world was in service to our country.

He knew what he was doing and he made the ultimate sacrifice.

Joseph P. Owens is editor of The Express-Times. E-mail him at jowens@express-times.com.

Ellie