Please note, there will be two IGTNT diaries today, this one, and noweasels' this evening.
This IGTNT will be a little different from the others in the series. I am not a regular IGTNT author. I am writing a guest diary, commemorating Sgt. Cawley because I know and love his children and wife.
This diary is for Cecil, Keiko and Miyuki. May I honor and remind us of your father and husband lovingly and in a manner you and he would want.
Sgt. James W. Cawley, USMC died Saturday, March 29, 2003, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad. He was 41 years old. He was the first Utahn killed in the Iraq war. He was a Marine Corps reservist and a police officer who loved and lived to serve his country, his community and his family.
Sgt. Cawley, you must have been a wonderful man. You are still sorely missed.
Sgt. James Cawley was the son of a marine who wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, and did. He served in the Marine Corps for 12 years before becoming a reservist. He had also been on the Salt Lake City police force for 7 years having graduated from the police academy with top honors. He was with the department's gang unit and SWAT team. His colleagues described him as "an excellent police officer and excellent military officer. He was one of the good guys." He had a strong sense of right and wrong, and of justice.
Cawley's company -- 170 Marines known as the Saints and the Sinners because half were Mormons from Utah and the other half were self-described smoking, poker-playing, beer-drinking Nevadans -- was packing up to come home when the Marine Corps froze all assignments.
Cawley's company then was activated for another year and rolled into the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. On Feb. 20, the company was sent to Kuwait and became one of the front-line fighting forces in Iraq.
Sgt. Cawley was killed when a coalition humvee crushed him in the confusion of a sniper attack that came in the dead of night.
He knew being gone from his family would be hard on them:
In an interview at Camp Pendleton, Cawley told The Salt Lake Tribune he was concerned about how his wife, a native of Japan, would get along during his absence as she was not comfortable with English. However, he noted, she had never opposed his serving as a Marine reservist.
"This has been hard on her. She's had to sacrifice more than most," said Cawley, who also lamented leaving his children.
"When I was a little boy, age 6, my dad, your Grandpa Cawley, was sent to Vietnam during the war there," the man nicknamed "Jimbo" wrote in a letter to his son. "I remember how much I missed him. But being a child, I didn't realize how hard it must have been on him, too."
Sgt. Cawley, I have known your family for three years now. You would be so very proud of them. Your son is 13 now. His voice has changed, and he's taller than I am. He is very much the child you raised, and he misses you, yet still feels your presence and influence. He wants to grow up and be a marine, like you. He strives for what is right and just, like you; even at the tender age of 13. When our sons, yours and mine, play, yours always wants to be "the good guy," the guy who fights for the little guy. He is still following your fine example.
Your daughter is now 11 -- such a beautiful, talented little girl. She is patient, quiet, intelligent, kind-hearted and an excellent student. Both your children do all they can to help their mother. You would be so proud of them. You did well in your short time with them.
Your absence has been hard on your family; but they follow your example and are doing well. Rest in peace, dear Sargeant. Those of us who know your family cannot help but love and respect them and you. We will be there for them. Rest in peace.
Please visitThe Salt Lake Tribune's web page for Utah's fallen for more on Sgt. Cawley. There are some heartbreaking, beautiful photos there. Much of the information in this diary was taken from the articles linked on that site.