Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson
Navy Cross
ABC 7
Donna and Corky Axelson live with a mix of emotion. Their tears represent both pride and anguish.
Donna Axelson, mother: “He was just a wonderful young man.” Donna is talking about her 29-year-old son, Matthew Axelson. He was one of three Navy seals killed last June during a counter terrorism mission in Afghanistan.
Rebels also shot down a helicopter carrying 16 reinforcements making it the deadliest operation in Naval special forces history.
The Axelson’s have an impressive collection spanning their son’s five year military career — there’s a silver star, a purple heart and the Navy and Marine Corps commendation medal. Now this son, brother and husband will receive the Navy Cross, a recognition second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Corky Axelson, father: “We are proud of our son if he didn’t get any of these medals, but this is special.”
The military says Axelson showed extraordinary heroism, providing fire cover for one of his fellow seals even as he was under attack. That courage does not surprise his older brother Jeff.
Jeff Axelson, brother: “Yeah, I looked up to him even though he is a little brother.”
As the nation debates the high price of war, this Cupertino family stands by the president and his military mission in Iraq and Afghanistan. Donna Axelson, mother: “I don’t think there is anybody who favors war but sometimes I think it’s necessary and this war on terror is necessary.”
The Axelson’s say the Navy Cross they will receive next month in Washington D.C. recognizes Matthew but honors everyone in uniform. Corky Axelson, father: “There’s a lot of people that put their life on the line not to be a hero but just because of what they believe in.”
The Navy Cross will be presented to the Axelson family at a special ceremony on September 13, two days after the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
CNN
The fourth man’s body was found Sunday with the help of local Afghans, said the military, which late Monday identified him as Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson, 29, of Cupertino, California.
Axelson was found near the other two bodies and died in a shootout, according to an initial assessment from the field, a senior defense official said.
This senior official said that “no way” had the SEAL ever been in captivity, contrary to Taliban claims that he had been abducted.
“(He) was located during a combat search-and-rescue operation July 10 in Kunar province,” the military said in a statement. “The location and disposition of the service member’s remains indicate he died while fighting off enemy terrorists on or about June 28.”
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The avid golfer probably could have made the PGA Tour if he set his mind to it, the program went on to say.
His heart and soul, however, belonged to the Navy SEALs.
During a secret mission, Axelson’s four-man team was trapped by Taliban forces and called for help. Helicopters were sent to pull the team out, but 16 troops, including three other SEALs from Pearl Harbor, died when a helicopter crashed under enemy fire. The fifth SEAL from Pearl Harbor killed during the mission and rescue was part of Axelson’s team.
Axelson’s body was found near the helicopter crash site in an area that had been searched but was difficult to survey because of high peaks and heavy tree cover, a military spokesman said. “It’s kind of bittersweet,” said Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara, a military spokesman. “We are severely disappointed that we didn’t find him alive, but we are also relieved at the fact that he’s no longer lost up in those mountains.”
Rear Adm. Joseph Maguire, commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command at Pearl Harbor, said Axelson’s body was found in roughly the same area where the bodies of two other SEALs were found. “It was his platoonmates that went out, were the ones that found him and the ones that brought him home,” Maguire said.
Axelson was raised in Cupertino, Calif., a town with a population of about 50,000 south of San Francisco and east of San Jose. He joined the Navy in 2000 and underwent extensive training before being sent to Hawai’i. He was deployed to Afghanistan in March.
Axelson, who earned a degree in political science from California State University-Chico, is being posthumously awarded the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal.
Maguire said rumors of Axelson being captured and a statement from a purported Taliban spokesman that Axelson had been beheaded were “absolutely false.” U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said the injuries on Axelson’s body were consistent with “a firefight, a combat operation with small-arms fire, RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) rounds.”
He is survived by his wife, Cindy; father, Cordell; mother, Donna; and brother Jeff.
Thanks to John with H&I Fires
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