William J. Cahir
Profile
Age: 40
From: Washington D.C.
Assigned to 4th Civil Affairs Group, Marine Forces Reserve, Washington D.C.
Incident: Marine Sgt. William J. Cahir died Aug. 13 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
Died: August 13, 2009
Former journalist, Pa. congressional candidate dies in Afghanistan
By Dan Robrish
The Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Sgt. Bill Cahir, a former news reporter and congressional candidate, has been killed in Afghanistan while serving with the Marines, a family friend said Aug 13. He was 40.
The friend, June Weaver, answered the telephone at a relative’s house and confirmed Cahir’s death to The Associated Press but said the family did not wish to comment.
Cahir was lauded at a newspaper where he used to work.
“This is an American hero as far as I’m concerned,” said Joe Owens, editor of The Express-Times, of Easton, Pa. “This guy’s the real thing.”
Cahir, a Bellefonte, Pa., native, was working in the newspaper’s Washington, D.C., bureau. Owens said Cahir enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 2003 in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,...