Posted on 07/05/2007 1:12:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Poetry and lore speak of a mother’s grief, a mother’s tears for a deceased child. So perhaps the spotlight after her soldier-son’s death in 2004 was bound to be captured by Cindy Sheehan.
For Pat Sheehan, the very private role of simply continuing to be Casey’s father has been enough - until recently, that is. In a blip of publicity Cindy Sheehan bowed out of her diminishing limelight, announcing that she would stop her activism against the Iraq war. In doing so, she declared that Casey Sheehan “did indeed die for nothing.”
That statement ended Pat Sheehan’s silence.
He called me after reading a column in which I disputed his ex-wife’s assertion. Yes, he told me, Casey Sheehan’s death mattered. We continued talking and e-mailing, and he made me realize what should have been so obvious - that a soldier's life is what is significant, not merely his death, or the activism it might inspire.
One problematic aspect of Cindy Sheehan’s celebrity has been that her deceased son got lost in the news coverage. Nobody knows much about how Casey Sheehan lived or how he died.
Pat Sheehan is pained that people know so little about the religious devotion of his son. Casey Sheehan so loved his Catholic faith that he considered the priesthood, before realizing how much he wanted to be a father himself. As a child, he would pull a nightstand from against the wall, cover it with a blanket and “play” mass, enlisting his sister to be a nun.
As a teen, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. Later he would quip that the military was “kind of like Boy Scouts, but with guns.” Casey Sheehan signed up before the Sept. 11 attacks. His service had nothing to do with revenge, his father says.
Rather, it was a way to practice his faith. Casey Sheehan wanted to be a chaplain’s assistant. Faced with a wait to become one, he chose to be a wheel mechanic instead. As a soldier, he was always the first to greet a visiting priest. If no priest came to say mass, he would lead a prayer.
Pat Sheehan has only recently learned the details of his son’s death from Martha Raddatz, author of “The Long Road Home,” a book about the Sadr City uprising.
Sadr City, Iraq. April 4, 2004. A platoon of soldiers were ambushed by sniper fire, trapped in an alley when their Humvees broke down. Casey Sheehan was among the men who volunteered for the rescue of the dead. Actually he pulled rank, taking the place of a lowlier private. The convoy was fighting its way through more sniper fire when a high velocity bullet pierced his Kevlar helmet, then ricocheted against his head. He was put on a helicopter, doctors desperately tried to save his life. A rosary was in his pocket.
Casey Sheehan was one of eight soldiers who died that day.
“He was an adult, making his own decisions when he volunteered that day,” Pat Sheehan told me. “And he would do it again. Nothing can tarnish that.What he did matters.”
Grief experts say that when a parent dies, a part of a person’s past is taken. When a person loses a sibling, a part of their present is lost. But when a child dies, the future is stolen. The future, things yet unseen, maybe even unfathomed. That would make moving forward in life feel a bit like stepping into a vacant space. Pat Sheehan has been trying to live in that place.
After his son’s death, he wondered why he never became angry. But talk with him long enough, and you’ll understand that outbursts are simply not his way. His children used to hear him sigh heavily.
Pat Sheehan disagrees with his ex-wife’s tactics, but he does not wish to be pitted against her. Philosophically, they are close on their views about the war. “But I would rather that Casey be viewed with dignity,” he told me.
He says he misses being married, although he initiated the divorce proceedings that ended their marriage of nearly three decades. Cindy Sheehan is not, he insists, the ogre of a mother that critics portray her to be. “I wish her no ill will, whatsoever,” he said.
In an e-mail, Pat Sheehan wrote: “I haven’t quite found my voice yet as Casey’s father, but make no mistake, I feel much of the same pain and sense of loss that his mother does. I have chosen to deal with it in my own way. For all of my children, Casey, Carly, Andy and Jane, I am attempting to move forward with a little grace and dignity. They deserve nothing less.”
Thread of the day! Good one, and thankyou.
(my screen now suddenly went all blurry. Just D*m’n!)
God bless you, Casey. You will be remembered long after your mother is forgotten.
“Perhaps having a decent father makes up some for having so worthless a mother.”
Please tell us what kind of mother she was to her son (alive, infant to young adult), as you apparently have information that she was worthless, despite the information about said son contained in this article.
I know it’s your sig... but “dignity and honor” followed by DW is kinda... humorous.
God Bless you Pat, God Rest you Casey. Carry on, soldier!
Mama Moonbat clearly misses the most significant part of her sons death and sacrifice. That being that he did sacrifice for his fellow man.
Pat Sheehan sees the heroics his son committed that day, his mother uses it to further an agenda that disgraces his sacrifice.
It is people like Casey Sheehan that made this country as great as it is, not ones like his mother.
Some day, when this life is over, Cindy Sheehan will have to look her heroic son in the eye. On that day, I will pity her more than I pity her now.
Amen to that.
Red...
“No man dies in vain who dies voluntarily in place of another”
Since Casey Sheehan was a Catholic, how appropriate and profound your statement is... I remember Saint Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Catholic priest imprisoned by the Germans at Auschwitz during WWII. Father Kolbe volunteered to exchange places with a condemned prisoner, so that the spared man might return home to his wife and children.
I have a serious question about the conduct of Cindy Sheehan:
I received an e-mail, a few months ago, that accused this mother of abandoning her son, Casey—surrendering parental rights—when he was age seven. This e-mail asserted that the mother had no further contact with the boy.
The text went further, stating that Cindy Sheehan was going through a second divorce and repeating the same mistake of giving up a second son from this second marriage.
I would like to see valid evidence that supports or refutes the veracity of these accusations. If they are trustworthy, than why have the media not revealed them? If they are false, then this is a calumny, and I do not want to be guilty in its association.
I appreciate any insight into this matter.
Thank you
RTO
As much as I dislike Cindy Sheehan, I can only assume that she is consumed by anger and grief. (although I really do question her sanity) This email floating around the internet is untrue. Except the part about Casey Sheehan’s unmarked grave. Sad, but I guess that’s a personal choice.
Here’s a link: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/cindy_sheehan.htm
and another:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/sheehan.asp
I am not certain, but I believe I was told someone mixed up one “peace mom” with another. I think that is someone else’s story.
Thanks for posting this. I have long felt sorry and angry that Cindy’s actions have overshadowed Casey. Grief is one thing, but I believed that after awhile she only used it as an excuse to carry on her Leftist agenda, rather than Casey’s wishes. If my family would have had to suffer the same fate and had acted in this manner, I would have come back to haunt them.
It is strange that this author claims that Casey’s father only recently learned the details of his last battle, and death. Those details were on Free Republic as soon as Cindy Sheehan became a news item.
Casey had just come from Mass on Palm Sunday when he volunteered to go into Sadr City to rescue other pinned down troops.
This is an absolutely wonderful letter from a wonderful man who honors his brave son and hero.
It’s too bad that Casey Sheehan’s story got lost in the Cindy Sheehan protests. Casey’s death seems to be what triggered all that protesting. I don’t recall her prior to her sons’ death.
But Casey’s father — thank you so much for bringing your son to adulthood where he felt free to pursue his ministry. I am sure he was close to God, our Heavenly Father, in those last nanoseconds of his life.
God bless you all.
Jane
Thanks for noticing.
I was a little confused about the time line.
This story seems a little late to the dance.
This is worth the read, GOE PING!
Thanks for the ping.. A most excellent article. I feel sorry for Mr. Sheehan and Casey. One has class and love in abundance while the other is a brace warrior for freedom and for Christ.
These are the men that make Aemrica, not Cindy.
It is impossible to reconcile her current actions with being a good mother. The sort of personality that makes a good mother could not be present in such a hateful person.
IIRC, Sheehan spent a very long period away from her family, so she was not integral to his development.
Though a two-parent family is optimal, there are many children who've grown to be fine men and women in a single parent home. Ditto for kids that have one good parent and one bag of crap.
There. Now you have three reasons that steve's comments weren't out of line.
Heck, Madalyn Murray O'Hair was a horrible person and and abusive mom, and one of her kids is a pastor.
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