Casey Sheehan

Cindy Lee Sheehan ( Miller; born July 10, 1957) is an American anti-war activist, whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War.

Cindy Sheehan was born Cindy Lee Miller in Inglewood, California, in 1957.

Her father worked at the Lockheed Corporation while her mother raised her family.

Sheehan graduated with honors from Cerritos College and studied history at UCLA.

She worked as a youth minister at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Vacaville, California for eight years, and also coordinated an after-school program for at-risk middle school children for the City of Vacaville.

Casey Austin Sheehan (May 29, 1979 – April 4, 2004) was a specialist in the United States Army who was killed during combat action while serving in the Iraq War.

In May 2000, Casey Sheehan enlisted in the United States Army as a light-wheeled vehicle mechanic, MOS 63B.

It has been reported that he may have considered enlisting as a chaplain assistant

MOS 56M.

(Sheehan had acted as an altar server during the Palm Sunday mass on the morning of his death).

Near the end of his active service, the 2003 invasion of Iraq began.

Sheehan reenlisted, knowing that his unit would be sent there.

Sheehan's division, the First Cavalry Division, was sent to Iraq.

In 1977, she married Patrick Sheehan, a sales representative, in Norwalk, California; they had four children, including Casey Sheehan (born in 1979), who was killed in action in Iraq on April 4, 2004.

On March 19, 2004, Sheehan's Battery C, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, arrived at FOB Camp War Eagle in Sadr City.

On April 4, 2004, Sheehan was killed in action after volunteering to be part of a Quick Reaction Force to rescue American troops in the "Black Sunday" incident that began the Siege of Sadr City.

Casey Sheehan is buried in Vacaville-Elmira Cemetery in Vacaville, California.

Casey Sheehan was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with V for Valor posthumously for his actions April 4, 2004.

The chapel at Fort Hood started a new Knights of Columbus chapter that was named the Specialist Casey Austin Sheehan Council.

Sheehan has said she initially questioned the urgency of the invasion of Iraq but did not become active in the antiwar effort until after her son's death.

Sheehan and other military families met with President George W. Bush in June 2004 at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Washington, about three months after her son's death.

In a June 24, 2004, interview with the Vacaville Reporter, published soon after the meeting, she stated, "We haven't been happy with the way the war has been handled. The president has changed his reasons for being over there every time a reason is proven false or an objective reached."

She also stated that President Bush was "sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis. I know [he] feels pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of God."

Sheehan gave another interview on October 4, 2004, stating that she did not understand the reasons for the Iraq invasion and never thought that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States.

She further stated that her son's death had compelled her to speak out against the war.

She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended antiwar protest at a makeshift camp outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch—a stand that drew both passionate support and criticism.

Patrick Sheehan filed for divorce on August 12, 2005, citing irreconcilable differences.

For the presidential inauguration in January 2005, Sheehan traveled to Washington, D.C. to speak at the opening of "Eyes Wide Open: the Human Cost of War," a traveling exhibition created by the American Friends Service Committee that displays pairs of combat boots to represent U.S. military casualties.

She also traveled with the exhibition to other locations and donated her son Casey's boots, stating, "Behind these boots is one broken-hearted family."

Sheehan was one of the nine founding members of Gold Star Families for Peace, an organization she created in January 2005 with other families she met at the inauguration.

It seeks to end U.S. presence in Iraq, and provides support for families of soldiers killed in Iraq.

Her memoir, Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism, was published in 2006.

In May 2006, the tombstone that Casey's family had been designing and commissioned was finally ready and placed at Casey's grave.

Cindy Sheehan paid for the tombstone herself, which is normally the case, stating, "It is important for the rest of Casey's family to have one.... I guess the pain of seeing it etched in marble that he is dead is another pain I will have to deal with."

Cindy Sheehan maintains that the U.S. government "should have paid for it because of its responsibility for his death."

The Sheehan family did not want the furnished monument that the government provides because it didn't reflect Casey's entire life or personality.

Sheehan ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2008.

She was a vocal critic of President Barack Obama's foreign policy.

Sheehan was the 2012 vice-presidential nominee of the Peace and Freedom Party, and received 1.2% of the statewide vote in the 2014 California gubernatorial election.

In an interview with The Daily Beast in 2017, Sheehan continued to hold her critical views towards George W. Bush, while also criticizing the militarism of Donald Trump.