Sgt. Bill Cahir Pa. congressional candidate dies in Afghanistan

Posted on Thu, Aug. 13, 2009


Pa. congressional candidate Cahir dies in Marines
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 Thursday. 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, 2001.

"He was in his mid-30s, only days away from being ineligible , too old , to sign up for the Marine Corps, and he essentially talked his way in because it was something he had to do," Owens said.

Cahir did two tours of duty in Iraq before returning to Pennsylvania.
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Pa. congressional candidate Cahir dies in Marines