These diaries never get easier. Night after night, we see the faces of the fallen: decked out in uniform, posed against an American flag; in family pictures, cradling babies; on myspace.com pages, hanging out with friends and sweethearts.
Tonight, I bring you a short video of Sgt.1st Class Matthew Blaskowski, in better days – in a hospital bed, recovering from wounds he sustained in Afghanistan in 2005. Here’s part of what he had to say:
"...About two months, they said, I’ll be better and hopefully I can get back down there and get back with my soldiers. Somebody has to do it, I guess, you know. I don’t see it as a sacrifice, you know, for me. I just want to get back down there and do my job. I’m okay, you know. I could be worse."
On Sunday, Blaskowski, of Levering, Mich. was killed in Asadabad, Afghanistan, dying "of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire during combat operations," according to the Department of Defense.
Please join me below the fold in honoring his memory.
Some children are natural daredevils, and it sounds like Matthew Blaskowski was one of them. "He had a need for speed, so it isn’t surprising he wanted to jump out of airplanes," his mother, Cheryl Blaskowski, told Stars and Stripes. "It was like a natural thing for him." Some of his favorite pastimes included four-wheeling, motorcycling, snowmobiling, and NASCAR, all fast and fun.
In 1998, just two weeks out of his senior year at Cheboygan Area High School, Blaskowski – a hunter, fisherman, and former member of his high school’s football, basketball and track teams -- enlisted in the Army, according to 9and10news.com. His career in the military took him to Iraq with the 173 Airborne Brigade Combat Team, based in Vicenza, Italy; that’s where he met his future wife, Daniela, whom he married just over a year ago.
Then it was on to Afghanistan. It was there, during a firefight, that he was wounded in the leg while trying to pull an injured soldier to safety, said the Record-Eagle back in 2005:
Blaskowski is a squad leader within the 173rd Airborne Brigade and said any of his fellow soldiers would have done the same.
His mother is not so sure.
"His commander called us and told us that our son is a hero," Cheryl Blaskowski said as she brushed away tears.
The 25-year-old soldier is at his parents' Cheboygan County home on a 10-day leave before he goes to Italy next week to resume physical therapy on his thigh muscles. He's anxious to be back with his unit, he said, but won't return until late July or early August.
After he recovered, he was awarded the Silver Star by Gen. John Abizaid, then-commander of U.S. Central Command (Abizaid, left; Blaskowski is second from the left). He was also given a Purple Heart.
Three months after being injured, he was back with his guys. As his grandmother, Shirley Blaskowski of Cheboygan, Mich., recalled, "He said nana, it's my job, and I like doing it. It scared us, but he wasn't afraid to go back. He was ready to go back and he was going to go back and finish his tour of duty that time."
He was on his second tour of Afghanistan when he was shot and killed by a sniper’s bullet. He was 27 years old.
According to mlive.com, the news reached his father, Terry, last weekend "when two sheriff's deputies and an Army representative came to his door. Blaskowski said he had talked to his son Friday, when he informed Blaskowski and his wife, Cheryl, he was to be promoted next month to sergeant first class. ‘He was excited,’ Blaskowski said."
Family and friends are devastated. A sampling of their reactions to their loss:
From fmfdoc451:
A good freind of the family was notified This past Sunday evenig (about midnight) that his son was killed in Afghanistan. Ssgt Matthew Blaskowski, USA, was killed by a gun shot wound to the chest. He was injured in 2005, awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart, but insisted on returning to his unit. His platoon was known as "the Clydesdales", due to their reputation as serious work-horses for the Bn.
I had known this man's family all my life, and knew him when he was a small child. Matt was a hero, LONG before he fell in battle!! Rest in Peace, Matt!!!
From his grandmother:
"We're mad and we're sad and we're tired...He was very proud of what he was doing, but we didn't want to lose him. He was very brave and very strong -- maybe too brave."
(snip)
She said military officials informed family members about her grandson's death on Sunday night, making him the second person in her family lost to military combat. Richard Blaskowski, Matt's second cousin, was killed in 1970 during the war in Vietnam, she said.
"I didn't think history would repeat itself," Shirley Blaskowski said.
From his cousin, Megan Singleton:
Matthew Blaskowski was my cousin. I loved him so much. He was such a great person. He would always make you laugh!! He was my hero! I'm going to miss him sooooo much! I'm only 17 but I still believe that if George Bush would have sent them home this wouldn't of happened. He's my hero and will always be the person who I look up too. I love you Matt!! Love~ Megan
From anysoldier.com contact Natalie P.:
Though we never had the pleasure of meeting your son, we thank him for supporting our freedoms. I requested his address from the anysoldier.com website. We filled the box with granola bars, juice mixes, and other comfort items. I didn't think the box was full enough so I was planning on going to the store to get some more items for it. His address label is already filled out and was ready to go. When I checked the website, I saw his name, not listed where I wanted it to be. We are so sorry for your loss. Natalie P (Pace, FL)
He leaves behind his widow, his parents, a brother, Stan, his nephew, Keegan, and niece, Haley. A memorial service will be held in Vicenza at the the base community chapel on Oct. 3, according to Stars and Stripes.
Godspeed, Sgt.1st Class Matthew Blaskowski.
UPDATE: Jenn from Serving the Queens was kind enough to forward a link to a number of photographs she took during Sgt. Blaskowski's funeral procession in Cheboygan, Mich. Go. Look. Cry.
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The Department of Defense has confirmed 3,800 deaths and the announcement of one more death is expected, pending notification of the next of kin, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count. All of the U.S. fatalities can be seen here. The DoD news releases are here.
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You can read more about each service member at Honor the Fallen and Spread the Word: Iraq-Nam, which is written by our own spread the word IRAQ-NAM. They all had friends and loved ones. Please visit the Iraq Veterans Memorial for a moving look at how a few of their survivors remember them. It will break your heart. If you want to do something more, please visit anysoldier.com, Operation Helmet, and/or Fisher House.
About "I Got the News Today" (IGTNT)
I Got the News Today is a diary series intended to honor service members who have died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; its title is a reminder that almost every day a military family gets the terrible news about a loved one.
Until recently, the IGTNT team has posted diaries about the fallen the day after the names appear on the DoD’s website. Because it is sometimes difficult to find much information about service members so soon, diaries about fallen service members will now appear two days after their names are officially released, which allows more time for us to find and tell their stories.
Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and which is maintained by blue jersey mom, chacounne, greenies, joyful, labwitchy, moneysmith, MsWings, noweasels, roses, Sandy on Signal, silvercedes, SisTwo, twilight falling, Wee Mama and me, monkeybiz.
Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members chronicled here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.