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Cards and donations for U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Matt West's family can be sent to P.O. Box 4087, Gaylord, MI 49734.

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  • A sign in front of Gaylord Ford on South Otsego Avenue in Gaylord memorializes U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Matt West, who died this week in Afghanistan. Sheri McWhirter/Record-Eagle

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September 4, 2010

Friends, family remember Matt West

BY SHERI McWHIRTER smcwhirter@record-eagle.com

GAYLORD — Willie Norton threw his head back and laughed as he recalled his childhood friend Matt West.

"All in all, he was a really good guy. I'm going to miss him, even though I haven't seen him in about 15 years," Norton said.

West served in the U.S. Army as a staff sergeant and died this week in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan. He was 36 and leaves behind his wife, Carolyn, and their three young children, all under 5 years old.

"We lived across the street from each other in the Pine Briar neighborhood here in Gaylord," Norton said. "We rode bikes and played a lot of ball together."

Through the years many of West's close friends moved away from Gaylord, where he graduated from high school in 1992. But some like Norton fondly remember him.

"I wish he was still around so we could hang out and play some softball one more time. We're losing boys left and right. It hits home when you know one who went to war and didn't come back," Norton said.

Sgt. Trevor Winkel, of the Otsego County Sheriff's Department, said he recalls working with West at a now-closed grocery store on Gaylord's west side.

"He always had a smile from ear to ear. He was a likeable kid, real easy to get along with," Winkel said. "It's just devastating. You see it constantly on the news, but when I heard Gaylord and then his name, I thought, 'Wow, holy cow.'"

West worked for a while at Glen's Market in Gaylord, where employees lowered the U.S. flag out front.

"I went to school with him. He was a nice guy," said Gene Gammon, a store employee. "He was two years behind me. He liked to have fun and goof around a lot."

West returned to Gaylord after graduating from Northern Michigan University in 1997. Eventually he moved away and enlisted.

West died during his third tour of duty overseas. He was in Afghanistan from March to September 2006, then in Iraq from March 2008 to June 2009. He arrived in Afghanistan for the second time in July, about a month before he died, according to military records.

"We'll never accept it. I keep thinking, 'No, this isn't true,' but then I remember, 'Yes, this has happened. We've lost a member of our family,'" said Beatrice West, his grandmother who lives in Elk Rapids. "You really can't put into words how you feel."

West's military job was to diffuse bombs, a task of which he was proud, Beatrice West said.

"I'm hoping it was instant and he didn't suffer. I just wish they were out of there — all of them," she said.

West died alongside four other soldiers, all stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado.

Beatrice West said her grandson was charming, and she recalled his close relationship with his late grandfather. That closeness was strained on one occasion, though, when his grandfather gave him a particularly bad home haircut.

"He put a baseball hat on his head until it grew back out. He slept with it on and even went into the bay to swim with it on his head," Beatrice West laughed.

West received 20 military awards before his death and additional posthumous awards are expected. Among his awards: the Bronze Star, Joint Service Commendation Medal, two Army Commendation Medals, Army Service Ribbon, Combat Action Badge.

West's uncle Joe West, of Farmington Hills, said a private memorial service is planned at Fort Carson and his nephew will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. No memorial service is planned in Michigan, he said.

"All of our focus now is on his kids and his wife and taking care of them. We're going to take real good care of his kids," Joe West said.

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