Corporal Matthew A. Commons 1/75

[Ranger]

Killed in action March 4, 2002
Operation Anaconda, Afghanistan

Matthew A. Commons, 21, was from Boulder City, Nevada, and volunteered for military service with the United States Army, July 7, 2000. He completed basic training and advanced individual training in the military operational specialty of infantryman at Fort Benning, Georgia. He volunteered for the second time to attend Airborne School and completed his airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia. On April 4, 2001, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia.

Corporal Commons was a M203 Grenade Launcher Gunner while assigned to 1st Battalion. He was killed while fighting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda during Operation Anaconda, the most intense fighting thus far in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He died March 3 in combat after enemy gunfire forced down a MH-47
Chinook helicopter, in which he and his fellow Rangers were aboard.

As a Ranger, Corporal Commons distinguished himself as a member of the Army’s premier light-infantry unit and was a highly trained and motivated soldier. He was
posthumously promoted to Corporal from Private First Class and awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, the Purple Heart and meritorious Service Medal.

His survived by his parents, Mr. Greg Commons and Ms. Patricia Marek, both of Alexandria, Virginia.

RIP Ranger Commons
RLTW