Army Sgt. Charles E. Matheny IV

23 of Stanwood, Wash.; assigned to the 704th Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; killed Feb. 18 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Baghdad.

Stanwood soldier killed in Iraq came from military family

STANWOOD, Wash. — A soldier serving his second tour in Iraq was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle.

Sgt. Charles E. Matheny IV, 23, of Stanwood, died Saturday in Baghdad, the U.S. Department of Defense reported Tuesday. It was three weeks before his 24th birthday.

Matheny was based at Fort Hood, Texas. He was a mechanic assigned to the 704th Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division.

Matheny, an only child, came from a military family. His parents, both grandfathers and his great-grandfather all served in the Army.

As a boy, Matheny enjoyed war movies and had a passion for cars. Being an Army mechanic seemed to fit.

“I’m living every boy’s dream. I get to play on tanks,” he said during a recent visit home.

It was no surprise when he followed his family into the service in August 2001 after graduating from Arlington High School a year earlier.

“I think he decided he was in a stage in his life where he had to rise to the occasion and be the man,” his father, Chuck Matheny said Tuesday.

Matheny’s mother, Dedi Noble of Camano Island was wary of her son joining the Army.

“Nobody wants their son to do that,” she said, “but I am so proud of my son, so proud of my boy.”

During his first deployment, Matheny injured his knee and returned to Fort Hood. He re-enlisted and returned to Iraq three months ago.

On Friday, he called his mother, who said instead of the usual small talk, he asked if she’d received the paperwork regarding power-of-attorney.

When Noble asked her son how he was doing, he said OK.

His roommate later told Noble that after the call, Matheny wrote a three-page letter to his dad. He mailed it before joining the convoy.

— Associated Press