Sympathy offered for soldier's family

“Representative Sacia, would you please hold for General Celletti?”

A cold rush of blood ran through my heart.

Typically, the adjutant general or assistant adjutant general of Illinois calls a representative only to tell them that an active-duty National Guardsman has been killed in the line of duty.

The general’s opening comment to me was just that:

“Representative Sacia, it is with great sadness that I must tell you one of your constituents, Specialist Norman Cain of Mount Morris, along with two other soldiers and an airman, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.”

I thanked the general for personally contacting me. He then shared with me that Spc. Cain, a 2006 graduate of Freeport High School, had to leave his young wife, Brigette, and a son, Toryn, and a step-daughter, Fallon Spielman, when his unit, Company D, First Battalion, 178th Infantry, of Woodstock, was activated and ordered to Afghanistan in 2008.

As with all fallen soldiers, there will be a solemn ceremony for Spc. Cain on the House floor when more information is learned.

Like the general, I send my deepest sympathies to Brigette, Toryn, Fallon and the family and friends of Spc. Norman Cain.

Note to readers – State Rep. Jim Sacia, a Republican from Pecatonica, represents the 89th District in the Illinois House of Representatives.



Past issues still should be withheld

“Representative Sacia, would you please hold for General Celletti?”

A cold rush of blood ran through my heart.

Typically, the adjutant general or assistant adjutant general of Illinois calls a representative only to tell them that an active-duty National Guardsman has been killed in the line of duty.

The general’s opening comment to me was just that:

“Representative Sacia, it is with great sadness that I must tell you one of your constituents, Specialist Norman Cain of Mount Morris, along with two other soldiers and an airman, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.”

I thanked the general for personally contacting me. He then shared with me that Spc. Cain, a 2006 graduate of Freeport High School, had to leave his young wife, Brigette, and a son, Toryn, and a step-daughter, Fallon Spielman, when his unit, Company D, First Battalion, 178th Infantry, of Woodstock, was activated and ordered to Afghanistan in 2008.

As with all fallen soldiers, there will be a solemn ceremony for Spc. Cain on the House floor when more information is learned.

Like the general, I send my deepest sympathies to Brigette, Toryn, Fallon and the family and friends of Spc. Norman Cain.

Note to readers – State Rep. Jim Sacia, a Republican from Pecatonica, represents the 89th District in the Illinois House of Representatives.