Today I got an email forward, about a woman named Katherine Cathey, and the loss of her husband Jim Cathey, a marine who died in Iraq. The story was so touching that I searched the web to find more information about this family, and decided to share their story with you.
Grab a box of tissues before you continue, like most stories about fallen heroes and the family they left behind, this story is touching. Pictures are captions came from
this website.
Katherine Cathey was expecting a phone call from her husband, Marine 2nd. Lt. Jim Cathey, so she could tell him if their baby would be a boy or a girl. Instead, she got a knock at the door — the knock every military family dreads. When his body finally arrived at the airport in the Marine’s hometown of Reno, Katherine never wanted to leave his side. ‘You take for granted the last night you spend with them,’ she said. ‘I think I took it for granted. This was the last night I’ll have to sleep next to him.’ She said about her all night vigil by Jim’s casket the night before his burial. Major Steve Beck prepares for the final inspection of 2nd Lt. James J. Cathey’s body, only days after notifying Cathey’s wife of the Marine’s death in Iraq.
At the first sight of her husband’s flag-draped casket, Katherine Cathey broke into uncontrollable sobs, finding support in the arms of Major Steve Beck. When Beck first knocked on her door in Brighton to notify her of her husband’s death, she glared at him, cursed him, and refused to speak to him for more than an hour. Over the next several days, he helped guide her through the grief. By the time they reached the tarmac, she wouldn’t let go.
When 2nd Lt. James Cathey’s body arrived at the Reno Airport, Marines climbed into the cargo hold of the plane and draped the flag over his casket as passengers watched the family gather on the tarmac. During the arrival of another Marine’s casket last year at Denver International Airport, Major Steve Beck described the scene as one of the most powerful in the process: ‘See the people in the windows? They’ll sit right there in the plane, watching those Marines. You gotta wonder what’s going through their minds, knowing that they’re on the plane that brought him home,’ he said. ‘They’re going to remember being on that plane for the rest of their lives. They’re going to remember bringing that Marine home. And they should.’
Minutes after her husband’s casket arrived at the Reno airport, Katherine Cathey fell onto the flag. When 2nd Lt. James Cathey left for Iraq, he wrote a letter to Katherine that read, in part, ‘there are no words to describe how much I love you, and will miss you. I will also promise you one thing: I will be home. I have a wife and a new baby to take care of, and you guys are my world.’
On the tarmac at the Reno Airport, 23 year-old Katherine Cathey waits in a limousine next to an empty hearse, preparing to watch the arrival of her husband’s casket. Five days earlier, she learned of her husband’s death in Iraq. Two days later, she learned that her baby would be a boy.
Katherine Cathey pressed her pregnant belly to her husband’s casket, moaning softly. The baby, due Jan. 1, will be named James Jeffrey Cathey Jr.
The night before the burial of her husband’s body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. The Marines made a bed for her, tucking in the sheets below the flag. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of ‘Cat,’ and one of the Marines asked if she wanted them to continue standing watch as she slept. ‘I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it,’ she said. ‘I think that’s what he would have wanted.’
The night before the burial of her husband’s body, Katherine Cathey refused to leave the casket, asking to sleep next to his body for the last time. Before she fell asleep, she opened her laptop computer and played songs that reminded her of JIM.
***
On December 22, 2005 Katherine Cathey, 24, recieved an early Christmas gift with the birth of her son James Jeffrey Cathey Jr, who she calls Jimmy.
Katherine Cathey holds her son, James Jr., during a recent doctor’s visit. Katherine’s husband, 2nd Lt. James J. Cathey, was killed Aug. 21 in Iraq. Katherine, 24, is trying to save as many things as possible to show her son. “I hope he asks a lot about his dad,” she said of “Jimmy,” who was born Dec. 22. “I’m sure he will.”
I wish Katherine and Jimmy the best, and I hope they both lead full and rewarding lives surrounded by the memories and love from their fallen hero.
12 Comments | In: A lot about nothing | tags: Sadness, Something Worth Mentioning. | #
