SPOKANE, Wash – It's
been an unbelievably difficult week for the family of Sgt. Matthew Stiltz. Exactly one week ago, they learned he died in
Afghanistan, at the age of 26, on his third tour of duty, serving the country he
loved.
His mother, Terri,
still has two voicemails from him she saved from over the summer, and played
them back once again.
"Hey Mom, I was just
calling to tell you I got your packages, I really appreciate it," Sgt. Matthew
Stiltz told his mother over the phone before deployment.
At their Spokane home,
Terri and Mark Stiltz shared their happier memories, photos from his childhood,
and family stories.
"That's actually one
of my favorite memories," Terri said, pointing to a photo of all three of her
kids, with their grandfather dressed up as Santa – himself, a WWII
ex-POW.
Another fond memory:
at just 21 months old, Matthew crawled into the family car, somehow put it in
gear, and crashed into the garage.
"That's actually one
of our favorite memories," his father, Mark said.
As young as 5, he
dressed up as a soldier for Halloween, and played soldiers around the house with
his older brother, Jeff.
But Matthew Stiltz
evolved, from a child playing a soldier to a man serving our country as
one.
"When those Iraqi
children were talking to Matt, I know they were talking to a friend," Mark said,
pointing to another of his favorite photos.
He already served two
deployments in Iraq, and when his mother found out he was heading off to this
third this summer, this time in Afghanistan, it was hard.
"I just prayed for his
safety, this is what he does - did. This
was his life, this is what he wanted to do, he was proud of what he was doing,"
she said.
But the hard reality
of seeing his body return home this morning is beginning to set
in.
"When we saw his
casket brought off the plane, it brings reality home, it's not so surreal," his
father said.
"In the back of your
mind, you don't really expect to get this kind of news, you pray you don't get
this kind of news," his mother added.
They learned of his
death from his wife, Brooke, calling from Kansas where he was based. Terri said she didn't believe it, kept saying
no, and grabbed a photo of him off the wall, hugging it
tight.
"If you have to lose a
child, you want to lose them the way they want to be lost, and this is a very
honorable way to go," Mark said, "I'm
just very proud of him."
His final words to his
parents, still kept on the voicemail message:
"I love ya'll,
bye."
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