LCpl Matthew R. Smith, U.S.M.C (NCD)

Crash in Kuwait kills Hoosier Marine

ANDERSON, Ind. -- A 20-year-old Marine from Anderson was killed in a traffic accident Saturday in Kuwait.

Matthew R. Smith, a reservist with the 4th Force Service Support Group based in Peru, died instantly when his Humvee struck a parked trailer while he was driving in a military convoy.

Chief Warrant Officer Suzanne Handshoe said another Marine in the vehicle was injured and remains in critical condition.

Smith's body has arrived at Dover (Del.) Air Force Base, which was of some consolation to his father, David.

"They were saying it might take three weeks for him to come home," he said. "But we'll be blessed to have some closure in one week."

Even though President Bush declared an end to combat in Iraq over nearly a week ago, David Smith knew his son was far from safe.

"Last week me and my wife talked about the dangers out there and the number of people getting killed in helicopter accidents and wrecks," Smith said. "And Matthew won't be the last, but we hope he is for all the other parents and families out there."

Matthew Smith stood about 5 feet 8 inches and weighed 140 pounds, but friends and family said he never let his small stature keep him from big accomplishments.

His aunt Vicki Buck called him "a runt who didn't know it."

Handshoe, who was his commanding officer in a training trip last summer to the Mojave Desert, remembered Smith as an overachiever.

"He was a small guy, but he was an extremely hard-working, can-do Marine," she said.

Smith, the younger of two children, attended Indiana University. In the Marine Reserve, he served as a radio operator and was deployed to Kuwait in February. He traveled all the way to Baghdad during the war and had since been working on supply convoys.

Handshoe broke the news to his family Saturday.

"Any time you see that car pull up and two Marines get out, you already know what happened," David Smith said. "It's just like the movies. I couldn't believe it."

The day his son died, David Smith received the first letter from his son since his deployment. In it, Matthew Smith wrote how proud he was to be overseas fighting for his country's freedom.

"He said that he was certain that's what he wanted to do -- be a Marine," David Smith said. "How many people on this Earth die doing the job they know they were put here to do?"

Added his aunt: "He died doing what he believed in."