Casualties of War:
Cpl. Matthew R. Zindars

15 Killled Last Week
26,558 Total Wounded
3,641 Total Killed

Chicago Sun Times 29jul2007

Marine Cpl. Matthew Zindars had already served one tour in Iraq when he got word some members of his old unit were enlisting for another.

"Matthew said if they were going back, he was going to go with them," his father, Kenneth Zindars of Watertown, Wis., told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "They think of each other as brothers. They eat together, sleep together and protect each other."

Cpl. Zindars was killed Tuesday when his Humvee was struck by a roadside bomb in Ramadi. He was 21 and scheduled to return home to Wisconsin in October.

An outdoor-loving former football player, Cpl. Zindars liked snowboarding, rock climbing and hunting, his father told the paper.

About the only time he slowed down was to play with his young nieces and nephews, according to the paper.

Cpl. Zindars enlisted in the Marines during his senior year at Watertown High School.

He graduated in 2004 and talked of studying journalism in college when he returned from Iraq, the paper reported.

"He was salt of the earth," Kenneth Zindars told the Watertown Daily Times. "He was a great kid and never gave us any trouble."

source: 30jul2007