Matthew V. Dillon killed in combat

AIKEN - Neal Dillon thought the knock at the door Monday evening was the UPS man bringing Christmas presents.

"I went to the front door looking for a package and found two pairs of shiny shoes and fully dressed Marine sergeants," Mr. Dillon said.

The men came to deliver the news that is every father's worst fear. His son, Marine Cpl. Matthew Dillon, was dead.

Cpl. Dillon and three other Marines were killed Monday in Al Khalidiyah, Iraq, when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device.

Cpl. Dillon served in the support squadron in Miramar, Calif., which is part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing.

"This was the first time I really knew in my life what grief was," Mr. Dillon said Tuesday afternoon.

"His mother and I - we're going to survive this."

This was the second trip to Iraq for the 25-year-old corporal.

He was first deployed with the National Guard's 122nd Combat Engineer Company out of Graniteville in 2003 and was in Iraq when the war began.

While on his first tour, Cpl. Dillon was awarded a Purple Heart after he was wounded in the hand by shrapnel.

Sgt. Clarence Palmer, 42, of Midland Valley, served with Cpl. Dillon during his first tour in Iraq.
"When I first met him, I said, 'Who is this spoiled little momma's boy?" said Sgt. Palmer, a 20-year veteran of the Guard. "I watched a lot of kids grow up really fast.

"If you look at the bratty little momma's boy and look at the young man I watched graduate at Parris Island (after basic training), he had reached his potential. He was focused."

Cpl. Dillon was a 1999 graduate of Wardlaw Academy and attended Augusta State University for about 2 years before joining the National Guard.

Both his brothers had served in the military. Robert Neal Dillon, served in the Army and Michael David Dillon in the Marines.

Cpl. Dillon wanted to follow Michael's path and become a military policeman, his father said.

"He just received a promotion to corporal and was being groomed to be part of the president's squadron," he said.

Mr. Dillon said his last conversation with his son was Sunday.

"He wanted to make sure we had gotten Christmas presents for his two brothers," his father said. "He didn't want to tell his mom to make fruitcakes, so he hinted around and she stayed up until 4 o'clock in the morning making them."

But Christmas celebrations will be put on hold this week as the family prepares for Cpl. Dillon's funeral.

"He had written us a letter," Mr. Dillon said. "He said, 'I want a full military funeral, bagpipes playing Amazing Grace and If by Rudyard Kipling read.'

"We're going to honor that request."

From the Chronicle