WAR COMES HOME TO RIPON Paul J. Cassidy ’89 Dies in Iraq

The war in Iraq came home to Ripon College July 17 when word was received that Capt. Paul Cassidy ’89, a captain in the reserves attached to the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion in Ashwaubenon, Wis., had died of non-combat injuries at Camp Babylon July 13.

Word got to Ripon via WBAY-TV out of Green Bay — a reporter called to confirm that Cassidy had majored in physics at Ripon and that he was an alumnus of the College. E-mails and phone calls spread the word the next day; another television station called on Mary WilliamsNorton, one of Cassidy’s professors, to share her remembrance of a former student who, as she notes, “was a really nice guy.”

Cassidy is the first Ripon alum to die in a war since Rick Scott ’71 died in 1970 as part of the Viet Nam war.

Cassidy, who left behind a wife, Susan, and a 10-month-old son, Colin, was originally from Muskegon, Mich., and was living in Laingsburg, Mich., when he was called to active duty. A reservist, he was in Iraq performing humanitarian services.

Cassidy had been a member of the 432nd unit, made up of reservists from around the Great Lakes region, since 1985 as a freshman in college and served as its dislocated civilians control officer until 1992. Although he had transferred to the 415th battalion of Kalamazoo, Mich., he had been deployed with the 432nd on several occasions, the Lansing State Journal newspaper reported.

The newspaper also reported that one fellow reservist said of Cassidy, “He was a hard-working soldier He volunteered for whatever you asked. He worked hard for his country.”

In civilian life, Cassidy worked as the department secretary for the Meridian

Township clerk’s office in Michigan.

Ripon alumnus Todd Gardner ’91 of Overland Park, Kan., remembered his Lambda Delta Alpha (LDA) fraternity brother as a “rock-solid person who was very dependable, dedicated and focused. You could count on Paul to come through in a pinch.” Gardner also recalled Cassidy’s “dry sense of humor.”

Gardner, who was also in ROTC and Pershing Rifles with Cassidy, remembered his friend as being “very intense during physical training. Paul could do push ups for days on end. He and I would get into push-up contests and he’d always win.”

In school, “Paul was a very dedicated student,” Gardner said of Cassidy “I remember Paul studying late into the night. It was clear that he was at school for one reason — to get his degree. Paul was a role model in that way and I tried to emulate his dedication.”

Another fraternity brother, Ryan Rupe ’92, now a chaplain in the U.S. Navy stationed at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in California, remembered Cassidy as a “very hardworking and fun guy to be around. Before he became an officer in the Army, he enlisted and served as a reservist during his time in college. He loved his life and he loved his country.”

Cassidy left Michigan in March of this year and went to Iraq with about 130 men and women reservists after six weeks in Fort Bragg, N.C. During his last mission in Iraq, Cassidy and his unit worked to restore the sewer and water systems in Al Hillah along with other rebuilding efforts, the Lansing State Journal reported.

His reserve duty had taken him to Saudi Arabia for six months in 1991 and to Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. He went to Bosnia, the Lansing State Journal reported, in 1996 for the NATO peacekeeping force and he spent seven months in war-torn Kosovo in 1999.

Ripon College plans to memorialize Paul Cassidy ’89 on what is commonly referred to as “The Rock” — a large stone which stands along Elm Street and which carries a bronze plaque with the names of Ripon’s 78 war dead from World Wars I and II, Korea, Viet Nam and now Iraq. (See photo on page 25.)

Cassidy will be memorialized as part of the “Service of Remembrance” during next summer’s Alumni Weekend June 27.

The Lansing State Journal noted that Cassidy’s role in “Iraq was similar to his previous duties in Kosovo, BosniaHerzegovina and Kuwait, where he distributed food and blankets, and helped reconstruct power grids, improve phone lines, re-establish farms, provide water and repair houses.”

The State Journal also reported that Maj. Gen. Charles Davidson of the Public Affairs Command headquartered in Pensacola, Fla., said, “Paul Cassidy chose to live a life of need. He chose to be deployed four times to difficult places under difficult circumstances to help humanity. Indeed, Paul Cassidy chose not to be a common man.”

Cassidy was promoted to major posthumously. r

Loren J. Boone