Army Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan: A Fallen Hero

Army Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan:  A Fallen Hero and Symbol for what’s the very Best in the United States of America

A Soldier who is still making a difference

President Bush Reacts

Army Spc. Casey Austin Sheehan was an honor student who was quick to help out others. The 24-year-old Sheehan died in Iraq on April 04, 2004.

His life has brought meaning to our community, said Vacaville Mayor Len Augustine. He made the ultimate sacrifice.

Casey had been in Iraq only two weeks before he was killed in a battle with Shite militia outside Baghdad.
Casey was such a special man the perfect son, said longtime family friend Estella Tucker.

Sheehan was a member of the 82nd Field Artillery of the 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas.

Army Maj. Gen. Rodney Kobayashi presented Sheehan’s family with the Purple Heart and Bronze Star and thanked them as Casey was a a soldier’s soldier.

The Army investigated the circumstances surrounding Sheehan’s death.
The Pentagon believes Sheehan and seven soldiers were killed when their units were attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire south of Baghdad.

In addition to his parents, Patrick and Cindy, Sheehan is survived by his brother, Andy, and sisters, Carly and Jane.

Sheehan’s family members said his sergeant told them he and another soldier, Cpl. Forest J. Jostes, volunteered to be part of a quick response team when rioting started in Baghdad.

He didn’t have to go, said Sheehan’s 23-year-old sister, Carly. He would do anything for anybody. He’d give you the shirt off his back. He was just a loving and caring person.

Carly Sheehan said her brother was active in his Catholic church, spending 10 years as an altar server and serving in the youth ministry.

That’s all he wanted to do was serve God and his country his whole life, Carly Sheehan said. He was a boy scout from age 6 or 7 and an Eagle Scout.

It was kind of a natural progression to go into the military from that. He said he was enjoying the military because it was just like the boy scouts but they got guns

Cindy Sheehan, his mother, is now a founding member of the Gold Star Families for Peace…….a group of grieved families.  Currently Cindy and the group are challenging the current administration on it’s justification for war and they want answers on why Casey and others have died……..They are NOT convinced that the administration is being geniune with them and the american people.  President Bush has done his best to placate the group but they are NOT going away.  Their mission statement is as follows:

Mission Statement:

We as families of soldiers who have died as a result of war (primarily, but not limited to the invasion/occupation of Iraq) are organizing to be a positive force in our world to bring our country’s sons and daughters home from Iraq, to minimize the human cost of this war, and to prevent other families from the pain we are feeling as the result of our losses. We are also hoping to be lifetime support for each other through our losses.

PURPOSE

*To bring an end to the occupation of Iraq.
*To be a support group for Gold Star Families.

WAYS TO ACHIEVE OUR PURPOSE:

*Provide support and to empower those who have been victimized by the invasion/occupation of Iraq.
*Raise awareness in the United States about the true human costs of the invasion/occupation of Iraq.
*Reach out to families who have lost a loved one as a result of war.

Who Can Join?

*Anyone who has had a relative killed as a result of war.
*Primarily, but not limited to the invasion/occupation of Iraq.

Published on Monday, January 24, 2005

The Dangerous Gold Star Families

by Cindy Sheehan  

Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld continues to astound us Gold Star Families with his heartlessness, callousness and disrespect in the faces of our children who are being killed in the mindless invasion and occupation of Iraq.

I am one of the founding members of a group called Gold Star Families for Peace. Some of us families who have lost loved ones in this illegal and immoral war in Iraq have organized to use our collective voices to bring the tragedy of war to the fore front of America’s hearts and souls like it so tragically is in ours. We families are amazed that so few of our fellow citizens are touched by the horrors of the invasion and occupation of a sovereign country. It seems to us like the only people who are asked to sacrifice anything for the war effort are our brave young men and women fighting this so-called war and their families. There are some families in our nation like us, that have paid the ultimate price for the lies and betrayals of this current administration.

I, and some other Gold Star Families, have been writing and calling the Department of Defense for over three weeks. We were all meeting in DC to protest the inauguration and we thought it would be a good time to meet with Donald Rumsfeld. We have many questions to ask him about our loved ones’ deaths and we deserve to have some answers. I think it is our right as Americans and grieving families to have these answers. For example, why were the children of this country sent to fight a war without the proper training, equipment or armor? Why were our children sent to fight a war that had no basis in reality? Why are American children still over there fighting a war, and dying in a war, when all the reasons for the war have been proven false? When is this administration going to bring the rest of our children home before it’s too late for their families?

If we were granted an audience with him, we didn’t really expect Mr. Rumsfeld to be truthful with us or even polite to us considering his past history of being so sarcastically untruthful and blatantly rude. The real reason I wanted to meet with Rumsfeld was so he could see the face of my son, Spc Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Sadr City on 04/04/04. I wanted him to look me in the face and see my red swollen eyes and to see all the lines that grief has etched. I wanted him to see the unbearable pain his ignorance and arrogance has caused me and my family. I wanted him to know that his actions have terrible consequences.

Our letters, phone calls, faxes, and e-mails to the Pentagon were to no avail: we received no response. So in conjunction with Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) we decided to go to the Pentagon and try and meet with someone, anyone. We were met at the parking lot by a couple of dozen of police officers blocking our way. We were told that we weren’t allowed to go into the Pentagon because we didn’t go through the proper protocol to request a meeting!!

I find it so ironic that with all the tight security for the events in DC this week that enough time and energy was mustered to stop families in mourning so forcefully at the Pentagon. I also find it ironic that if I were a wealthy Republican who had donated large sums of money for the re-election of the President, I could have had access to all the big wigs at the lavish partiesbut I, whose son paid the ultimate price of his precious life to this country, can’t even get within a half of a mile from the man who sent him to die.

We Gold Star Families for Peace are not giving up the fight to hold someone in this administration accountable for the quagmire in Iraq and the more important struggle to bring the rest of our children home from this devastating occupation now. It takes most of our energy just to get out of our beds in the morning and mourn our horrific losses. We need all Americans to wake up and start lobbying their elected officials for an end to this immorality in Iraq and to join our voices in protest.

Cindy Sheehan is a member of Gold Star Families for Peace.