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PRIVATE
FIRST CLASS HOWARD JOSEPH CAHILL was born on July 25, 1918. He grew up
in East Camden, attending St. Joseph's Catholic School and Camden
Catholic High School in Camden NJ. He was working for a telephone
company in California at when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and
Private Cahill had enlisted immediately in December of 1941.
He
wrote his mother at Christmas time in 1943, sending her a hand-drawn
card, as he could not buy one where he was. A poem on the card concluded
with the following lines:
“And
now a Marine far overseas takes time to stop and say:
Merry Christmas, Mother, is a typical Marine way.”
Private
Cahill was granted a furlough in 1944, and was home from February
through July of that year. He was killed in action on Iwo Jima on March
4, 1945. He had participated in Marine campaigns at Guadalcanal,
Bougainville, and New Caledonia.
Private
Cahill was survived by his mother, Mrs. Catherine Cahill of 506 Beideman
Avenue in Camden NJ, brothers Frank and Donald, and sisters Rae and
Catherine. After the war, Howard Cahill was brought home to New Jersey.
He was buried at Beverly National Cemetery, Beverly NJ on January 5,
1949. |
