Matthew J. Stanley dies of injuries from I.E.D.

The family of a Massachusetts-born soldier who died in a roadside bomb blast remembered Army Spc. Matthew Stanley as an outgoing 22-year-old who was deeply proud and personal about his two tours of duty in Iraq.

Stanley, who grew up in New Hampshire and had been married less than a year, was a cavalry scout stationed out of Fort Hood, Texas. He was killed this past weekend in Baghdad.

His stepfather, James Savage Sr., who lives in Wolfeboro, N.H., said Stanley was “one of the funniest kids you’d want to meet.”

“He loved to have a good time. He was the type of kid that everybody wanted for a friend,” he said.

He said his stepson enlisted 18 months after high school and had already served one 10-month tour of duty.

He had been back in Iraq since October.

Savage said Stanley kept his war experiences private.

“He didn’t talk about it. He didn’t want to worry anybody. He did his job. He didn’t even talk about what went on over there the first time. It was very personal to him,” he said.

His family said he would have celebrated his first wedding anniversary on New Year’s Eve. His wife, Amy Stanley, who is from Plymouth, was living in Texas.

Stanley moved from Revere to the Wolfeboro-Ossipee area when he was in first grade. He graduated in 2002 from Kingswood Regional High School in New Hampshire.

His mother, Lynn Savage, remembered her son as an outgoing, fun young man.

“He was a typical boy. He loved to take things apart and put things back together. He always had a nice circle of friends, just an all around good kid. He loved life,” she said.

Stanley’s father is Richard Stanley of Revere.

Marjorie Stanley, Stanley’s grandmother, who also lives in Revere” called him a “wonderful boy.”

From the Herald