A 28-year-old Marine from Jefferson County was killed Monday in combat in Iraq, just four days after his birthday.
First Lt. Matthew Ryan Vandegrift died from wounds he received when a makeshift bomb exploded in Basra, his father said.
Matthew Vandegrift was training Iraqi soldiers and had last talked with his parents, John Francis and Mary Jane, on Saturday, assuring them he was well.
“He told us everything was fine,” John Vandegrift recalled. “He said it was the slowest day he has had over there, and it was boring. They had cleaned up Basra and they had just a little more to do.”
Vandegrift was raised mostly in Texas and graduated from high school there. He attended Texas A&M University, where he was part of the school’s Midshipmen Battalion NROTC program.
In December 2003, Vandegrift graduated with honors and a degree in international business.
After graduation, he lived with his parents at their home in unincorporated Jefferson County while recuperating from a knee injury. He enlisted in the Marines in August 2005.
He had been stationed in Iraq since August 2007. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Mary Jane Vandegrift described her son as a charismatic child who grew into a caring man.
“He was the perfect kid,” she said. “One in a million.”
Vandegrift’s younger brother, Barrett Ryan, is a graduate of the Air Force Academy and is a helicopter pilot stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.
John Vandegrift served in the Marine Corps from 1963 to 1971.
His family said he will be buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery with full military honors.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
