Andy Matus remembered

The parents of a U.S. Marine from northern Wisconsin didn't know their son was serving in Iraq until they received a call telling them he'd been killed.

Lance Cpl. Andrew Matus, 19, who grew up about 110 miles northeast of the Twin Cities, in Weyerhaeuser, was reportedly shot Sunday in Anbar province. His parents learned of his death that night, but the Pentagon hasn't released details.

"His sister knew he was there, but he didn't want anyone else to know," Matus' grandmother, Virginia Matus, of Bruce, Wis., said by phone Tuesday. "They thought he was on a ship somewhere transporting supplies. They figured he'd eventually be sent over there, but they didn't know until they got the call."

Many in the Matus family have served in the military, including both grandparents on Andrew Matus' father's side, Matus' father and two uncles, said Virginia Matus, who served in the Army domestically during World War II. Still, she said, the family worried when Andrew Matus declared his intention to enlist long before his 2005 graduation from Weyerhaeuser High School.

"Everybody tried to talk him out of it," Virginia Matus said. "My youngest son tried talking him out of it. He said, 'You're going to see dying and wounded people, and it's not going to be a pretty sight,' but he was bound as heck to go."

Andrew Matus was an athletic, avid sportsman, often attending gun shows with his father, Virginia Matus said. He was a natural mechanic, she added, and "could fix anything." He designed and built furniture and games to raise money for community programs.

"If anybody ever asked him to do anything, he'd be more than happy to help out," Todd Solberg, the school's principal, said.

Because of his craftsmanship and mechanical abilities, teachers at his high school honored him as Technology Education Student of the Year in 2005.

"He's probably the best mechanic I ever saw," said Richard Manor, a technology education teacher at the school. "If you needed a part, he'd make the parts. He was very talented."

He is the 68th Wisconsin member of the military to die in the Iraq war.

From the Pioneer Press

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Andy Matus reported killed in Iraq