In Memory of Major James Michael Ahearn

I just lost a good friend. We only knew each other for three years, but we became friends when he needed a real estate agent. He called me from Iraq where he was serving his second tour. He was disappointed with the agent he had, so he wanted to hire me. Well, the house sold in two weeks, so he thought I was the best agent that ever lived. We all know that wasn't true. It was just the timing. We get the credit and the blame. Most of the time neither one is deserved.

He came back to the states a few months later and kept in touch. He said he was coming back to Fort Bragg and he wanted to do business again. On one of his calls he said he might be married when he got back. He said he had met a girl in Baghdad and he had asked her to marry him. He was going though the paperwork to get her here. He was told that he needed to marry her in the US because if he married her over there he may never get her back. He finally called and said he had been successful. She was coming and they were coming to Fort Bragg.

When they got here, she had only been in the country a few days. She was really beautiful and spoke almost perfect English. She made all my doubts (that I had never expressed) go away. It was obvious that she was as much in love as he was. They weren't married yet. They were going to go to Las Vegas to get married so his family from California and her sister in Texas wouldn't have so far to travel. We spent several days looking at houses and really got to know each other. I even connected him with my son-in-law so he could find out about a course he was getting ready to take. My son-in-law had taken the same course a year before. They finally selected a home that they both really liked. Then they left to go west to get married. He sent me a web link so I could see the wedding and I did. When they got back they were so excited. They were married and moving into a new house.

A couple of weeks later they stopped by my office and told me of a few symptoms she had, and he thought she might be pregnant. Yep. Another job I have - doctor. I told them that it sounded like it but they needed to buy a kit and make an appointment with a doctor. They did and she was.

In December (I think) they went to New York so she could vote at the Iraqi Embassy. They sent pictures of their trip and her purple finger held proudly in the air. They had a wonderful trip even tho' it was cold. In January, I was invited to her baby shower. It was a surprise and she was surprised. The baby wasn't due for six more weeks, but she was born the next day. Maybe the surprise was too much for her. She was small, but she was fine. He was one happy man. He had the woman he loved and now a perfect little baby girl.

He finished his course last summer, and he said he had the perfect life and he loved it. He brought his wife a card, a flower and a doughnut every Sunday. They knew it was coming, and it did. He found out he had to go to Iraq for his third tour this year. He left in March and he was supposed to be back in September. His biggest worry was that his baby daughter wouldn't remember him when he got back. The last time he sent me pictures was June 15 and they were almost all of children. He also sent one of a latrine that was blown to bits. Nobody had been in there, so nobody got hurt.

I was notified this weekend that he had been killed by a roadside bomb on July 5. What a waste.