Army Spc. Matthew C. Powell

Died October 12, 2010 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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20, of Slidell, La.; assigned to 526th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.; died Oct. 12 at Kandahar Airfield, of wounds suffered at Ghunday Ghar, Afghanistan when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

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101st Airborne member killed, was from La.

The Associated Press

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Military officials at Fort Campbell say improvised explosives killed a U.S. Army truck driver.

Spc. Matthew C. Powell of Slidell, La., was assigned to Company A., 526th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

A news release from the post states that Powell was 20 years old and died Oct. 12 at Kandahar Airfield of wounds he received in Ghunday Ghar, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was attacked with an explosives device.

Powell is survived by his father, Lloyd P. Powell of Baton Rouge, La.; and mother, Janice C. Powell of Slidell, La.

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Friends recall soldier as ‘big teddy bear’

The Associated Press

Matthew Powell was a “big teddy bear” who kept working hard until he met with success, friends and family said.

He wasn’t the strongest student, and he wasn’t a starter on Northshore High School’s football team. But he attended every summer workout to sweat with a purpose, and he held his head high when he walked on the field in September with his former coach.

“He seemed to realize that he was doing something good, and that was good to see, that he was proud of what he was doing, that he was proud of his accomplishments,” the coach, Mike Bourg, told The Times-Picayune newspaper.

Shelly Jones, who taught Powell in Sunday school, likened him to the teddy bear: “So sweet, so strong, so tall,” she said.

Powell, 20, of Slidell, La., died Oct. 12 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered in a bombing. He was assigned to Fort Campbell, Ky.

Jones’ 17-year-old daughter, Bethany, recalled Powell as “the sweet big brother figure in my life” whom she could always count on to cheer her up, even if he was serving overseas.

“He was always the funniest one,” she said, “the one doing the random dancing in the middle of the party, always being goofy.”