CFO of Single Throw Becomes President of World-wide Organization
This November, Jim Farrell, Freehold, the CFO of Single Throw, an internet marketing company in Wall Township, was named the president of the Family and Friends of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) Association, an international organization dedicated to preserving, remembering, and communicating the history of those paratroopers in the 508th who safeguarded freedom around the world during World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, among other conflicts.
As president of 508th PIR Association, Farrell will continue the mission of the organization that has more than 500 members world-wide. He will also arrange meetings, oversee the newsletter, and continue the focus and the direction of the 508th PIR.
Farrell and his sister Liz have been a member of the Friends and Family of the 508th PIR Association for decades. They had setup a profile page on the 508th PIR website because their uncle Private Martin Teahan of HQ Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 82nd Airborne Division, had died on June 6, 1944, near a church in Picauville, Normandy, on the first day of the Invasion of Normandy. While scouting a position, he was shot in the leg, captured, and then killed by a German soldier who thought he was reaching for a weapon.
A few days after D-Day, a French farmer in the area found an M1 Garand Rifle with the name M. Teahan engraved on the butt of the rifle. No one knew what the farmer did with the rifle for 72 years until it was discovered February 2016 by an active duty French Army Paratrooper Commander named General Patrick Collet.
General Collet, determined to find who M. Teahan was, searched the 508th PIR website for an M. Teahan. He found the match and notified Liz and Jim Farrell. Farrell said, “We knew the moment we found out that the rifle was our Uncle Matty’s, he was coming home after 72 years. That moment changed our lives.” That’s how Farrell and his sister become a life-time members of Friends and Family of the 508th PIR Association.
Uncle Matty’s rifle was the catalyst for a journey that has led Farrell to writing the book Uncle Matty Comes Home, creating Facebook and Instagram pages, and meeting Rock Merritt, known as “Mr. 508,” age 95, who actually knew Farrell’s uncle and is one of the most famous 82nd Airborne, World War II people still alive.
According to Farrell, Merritt “is really the rock of the 508th. He has been nominated three times to be Sgt. Major of the army, the highest enlisted rank possible, and every president of the United States wants to meet him.”
It was Merritt who asked Farrell to become president, a request Farrell couldn’t say ‘no’ to. Farrell said, “In life it is often the unexpected, the things that come out of the blue, that lead you to a direction in life you never anticipated. Before 2016, I only knew Uncle Matty had died in WWII, no other details. This journey has taken me overseas, brought me to relatives I never knew existed, created a closer family, and has made me president of this organization.
About Jim Farrell: Born in Bronx, N.Y. in 1956, Farrell graduated from Rice High School in Harlem. In 1974 he enlisted the army, became a military policeman, and deployed to Korea. After serving in the army, Farrell earned a B.S. in accounting (1983) from SUNY, Binghamton.
In 2000, Farrell and Larry Bailin co-founded Single Throw for which Farrell oversees the company’s direction, finances, and operations.
Farrell served on the Board of Directors of the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, was first vice president and then president (2007-2008). He also chaired the technology, finance, and E-newsletter committees. Through his leadership, the Lakewood Chamber was one of the first to have its own blog and podcasts of business issues. Farrell was instrumental in developing the first websites for the Lakewood Chamber of Commerce. In 2009, the Lakewood Chamber honored him as a Citizen of the Year.
Farrell is a member of the Monmouth/Ocean Chapter of the Financial Executives Networking Group, which he founded, and is a member of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation.