Navy medic from Ohio killed in Iraq [Archive] - Marine Corps

thedrifter

02-03-07, 07:20 AM

Posted on: Saturday, February 3, 2007
Kane'ohe Marine, corpsman killed

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

The war in Iraq claimed the lives of two more men from the Kane'ohe-based battalion fighting in Al Anbar province, the Department of Defense announced yesterday.

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Terry J. Elliott, 34, of Middleton, Tenn., and Navy hospital corpsman Matthew G. Conte, 22, of Mogadore, Ohio, died Thursday during "combat operations."

Both were assigned to the Hawai'i-based 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, which has now suffered 21 casualties since deploying to the region last September.

Elliott was a platoon sergeant who joined the Marines in June 1992. He was stationed in Hawai'i in 2004 and had previously deployed to Afghanistan with the 2/3 from May 2005 to January 2006.

His awards include the Purple Heart, three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, four Good Conduct Medals, two National Defense Service Medals, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, four Sea Service Deployment Medals, the Marine Corps Recruiting Ribbon, the United Nations Medal, and the North American Treaty Organization Medal.

Conte joined the Navy in January 2004 and reported to Hawai'i in November 2004. Like Elliott, Conte also deployed with the battalion to Afghanistan from May 2005 to January 2006.

Conte's awards include the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, two Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, and a Sharpshooter Ribbon.

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Ellie

thedrifter

02-04-07, 03:28 AM

Posted on Sun, Feb. 04, 2007
Navy `built him into a fantastic man'
Mother of '03 Field H.S. graduate who was killed in Iraq says the military made her son a success
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer

Portage County's Matthew Conte died doing what he wanted to do more than anything in the world.

``He was taking care of his guys,'' the Marines he served with, said his mother, Lureen Conte, in a phone interview Saturday from her home in Jacksonville, Fla.

The 22-year-old Navy hospitalman and 2003 Field High School graduate died Feb. 1 in Iraq as a result of a roadside bombing.

He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, and was serving under the command of I Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq.

When Conte decided to go into the Navy, he initially wanted to become a Seabee, but the naval construction unit had a two-year waiting list.

As a student both at Field High School and the Maplewood Career Center in Ravenna, he thought about becoming a brick layer, a mason. That is why he first thought of the Seabees, his mother said.

In February 2004, he decided not to wait for a Seabee slot, and enlisted in the Navy. He was assigned to be a corpsman, a medic, his mother said.

``He loved it so much,'' she said, that he wanted to work in the field of radiology when his Navy enlistment was up.

Conte had served one tour in Afghanistan and left for Iraq on Sept. 11, 2006.

As a corpsman, Doc Conte, as he was called by the Marines he served with, carried both a weapon and a medical bag on missions, his mother said.

The respect the Marines had for Conte can be seen in postings made after his death on his MySpace page, www.myspace.com/killercorpsman.

``Conte, I can't believe you're gone,'' said one unidentified writer. He went on to say the knowledge he had passed on had helped save the lives of two Marines. ``I'll never forget you man,'' he said.

Another writer, identified as Lance Cpl. Darrin Gallagher, wrote of the honor it was to have served in the same platoon with Conte.

``I know you are still around us watching over us, which makes me feel better,'' he wrote.

Conte was not a great student in school, his mother said.

``You couldn't keep him quiet,'' she said.

But in the Navy, he shined.

``The Navy was successful for him,'' she said. ``They built him into a fantastic man.''

Conte was conscientious about his work and was constantly organizing medical supplies that he always carried with him. He often asked his mother to send him extra supplies.

One time, he asked her to send tampons to Iraq, his mother said.

Why tampons, since there are no women in the unit, she asked?

``That's what I can shove in a bullet wound,'' he responded.

He also wanted his mother to send him denture cream that could be used to prepare a large wound for a dressing on an injured Marine or sailor.

He wanted a small flashlight with a red glass so he could more easily see his medical supplies at night.

When he told her there were only a half dozen Bibles in his unit, she got her church in Florida, the Franklin Street Baptist Church, to send his unit 28 Bibles.

The sailor's parents, mother Lureen and father Gale,moved from Streetsboro to Florida a year ago.

Mrs. Conte said her son discovered the joy of running in high school, which became a passion. He was even disciplined in Afghanistan for running at a non-approved time, she said.

Her son loved hunting and fishing and believed in what the United States was fighting for overseas, his mother said.

``We need to be here,'' he told his mother, of his time in Afghanistan. ``These people have nothing.''

In Iraq, his group was building schools and hospitals for the Iraqi people, she said.

Mrs. Conte, who works as an insurance underwriter, said since finding out Thursday that her son had been killed in action, she has been thinking a lot about the cost of freedom.

``It is more than you can imagine and different for everyone,'' she said. ``The cost of this war for me is a great one, but the same price that over 3,000 mothers have had to pay. My price is my son.''

Matthew Conte, known as ``Chew-Chew'' as a boy, was changed by what he saw at war, his mother said.

``Life became more precious,'' she said.

The last time she spoke with her son on the phone, on Jan. 29, a few days before he was killed, he asked her if she would send some cookies.

``I want to let you know I love you,'' he told his mother.

Conte's mother said he will be cremated following funeral services, still unscheduled through the Dunn-Quigley-Ciriello & Carr funeral home in Stow.

His mother said: ``He told us `I do not want to be buried. I do not want to be placed in the ground. I want to be cremated. You can keep me around. I want to be with you guys. When you go, put me with you.' ''
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.

Ellie