The war followed them home

The war followed them home
Philly News
JASON NARK, Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Tim and Matt were among the 17,000 veterans treated in the mental-health program at the Philadelphia VA Clinic last year, both going for weekly PTSD counseling sessions.

The family of Timothy Gill, a Philly firefighter and Iraq war veteran who committed suicide. From the foreground: his mother Marie Gill; wife Maria Gill; sister Cheryl Philyaw; and older brother William Gill. The family says he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.
(ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER )

THE LITTLE GIRL could coax a smile from Tim Gill even when he had none left.

She'd seen Gill, a Philadelphia firefighter who served in Iraq with the Pennsylvania National Guard, sprint to the sink, doubled over with nausea. She whispered when Gill's headaches came and tiptoed during his bad dreams, but he remained the man she adored most.

A few days before the funeral, she drew a picture of Gill, a stick figure sticking out its tongue, smiling for her one last time.

"DADDY," 4-year-old Amanda Gill wrote above the figure's head.

Sgt. Timothy M. Gill, 38, an Archbishop Ryan High School grad, was a chemical-operations specialist with the Guard's 128th Chemical Company on Southampton Road in the Far Northeast.

When he returned to the United States in 2006, he rejoined the Fire Department, got married and had Amanda, his second daughter. But Iraq had changed Gill, his family said, and he brought back a burden he ultimately couldn't bear.

"He was Tim when he left, happy-go-lucky," his mother, Marie Gill, said. "He was not Tim when he came back."

On Sept. 29, Tim sent text messages to his wife, Maria, and his teenage daughter, Mone. He texted his captain at Engine 78, asking him to make sure family members didn't find him. Then just before noon, Tim called 9-1-1 and became, in the eyes of his family, another war casualty.

Staff Sgt. Matthew McCart Cooey took his own life on Dec. 15, 2012, a day before his 28th birthday, after several unsuccessful attempts. Rita Cooey thought his therapists should have seen it coming.
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