‘I go where you go’
Members of post catholic community dedicate new Knights of Columbus Council to fallen 1st Cav. Soldier
By Mollie Miller
Sentinel Living Editor
When Sheehan deployed to Iraq earlier this year with his teammates from 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, along with his desert battle dress uniforms and M-16, he brought with him that same unshakeable faith. Attending mass “in-country” as often as he could, Sheehan quietly did his job, giving his team 100 percent at all times, volunteering to help whenever needed.
On April 4, Sheehan arose and prepared himself for Palm Sunday mass. That evening, the California native volunteered to be part of a Quick Reaction Force scheduled to go into Baghdad to help quell some rioting. He did not have to go but he told his superiors, ‘I go where you go,’ and off he went on the convoy.
That night, Sheehan was killed when the convoy he was in was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire in Baghdad. Six other members of his team also lost their lives that night.
“The last time we talked to him, he was on his way to mass,” Sheehan’s father, Pat, recalled recently. “The last thing he said to [his mom] was, ‘Well, it’s pretty hot here. I’m on my way to mass – I’ll see you later’.”
“His faith never wavered, he never questioned what the right thing to do was, he just always did the right thing,” Cindy Sheehan said of her son. “He always gave of himself even until the very end when he gave all he could give.”
In recognition of his dedication to his fellow Soldiers, of his patriotism and of his unwavering faith, the members of Fort Hood’s new Knights of Columbus dedicated their council in the name of Spc. Casey Sheehan during a ceremony Sept. 11.
“We decided to dedicate the council to [Sheehan] because people here know him, they love him and, hopefully, they will identify the Knights with him and his wonderful qualities,” Staff Sgt. George Powers, Fort Hood Knights of Columbus Grand Knight, said following the ceremony. “If each one of us could even be a little bit like Casey, we will be an excellent council.”
The first Knights of Columbus Council ever formed on Fort Hood, Powers said the group is dedicated to helping the post community in any way they can.
“There’s a need out there and we are just hoping we can be a resource for people who need help,” Powers said.
In the works just since April, the Fort Hood Knights of Columbus Council already has 50 members. An international organization guided by the principals of charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism, the Knights of Columbus is a Catholic men’s fraternal benefit society dedicated to charitable work both inside and outside the organization.
Sheehan’s father Pat, already a member of the Knights of Columbus in California, said he was surprised when representatives from the Fort Hood council called him about the dedication.
“I was just stunned. This is the first council at Fort Hood and of all of the thousands of Soldiers who have come and gone through Fort Hood, for them to actually think enough of [Casey] to name the council after him is amazing,” Pat said. “This will be a lasting tribute to our son.”
Powers said he is pretty confident that if Sheehan were alive today, he would most certainly have been a member of the post’s Knights of Columbus council and would be volunteering to help with everything.
“People need things out [in the Fort Hood community] and we want to be able to help them,” Powers said. “We are just here to support the community and, if we can’t provide the help people need, we will find someone else who can.”
For information on the Spc. Casey Sheehan Knights of Columbus Council, contact Powers at george.a.powers@us.army.mil.
