The Today Show had a moving piece on Bill Cahir with his widow Rene Browne this morning. Via Wikipedia:
Bill Cahir (pronounced “care”), 40, was a former newspaper correspondent for Newhouse Newspapers; a Congressional committee staffer for U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.); and a 2008 Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 5th District, when he was killed by a single enemy gunshot Aug. 13, 2009 while on active duty in Afghanistan as a U.S. Marines Reservist.
Cahir was working as a Washington, D.C.-based correspondent for Newhouse News Service when he notably joined the Marines at age 34—a move that required requesting an exception to the service’s age-restrictions. He cited a long-held interest in military service as well as the September 11 attacks as motivations for his enlistment, and subsequently wrote a first-person essay regarding his boot camp experience.
He married Rene Browne in 2006. She is pregnant with twin girls, and is due in December 2009.
A memorial fund was established to pay for the family’s needs at Bill Cahir Memorial Fund, Box 268, Alexandria, Va. 22313
Today is the 8th year since the Afghanistan War began.
