Thursday, 4:30 PM
A Pembroke man was wounded during search for missing comrades in Iraq
Matthew Bean in a high school photo
By Michael Naughton, Globe Correspondent
A soldier from Pembroke who was shot in the head while searching in Iraq for three missing comrades was scheduled to arrive soon at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., neighbors and community leaders said Wednesday.
Matthew Bean, 22, a member of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, was shot by a sniper Saturday while taking part in the search, said the Rev. Paul Atwater, pastor of the North River Community Church in Pembroke, where Bean’s family attends.
Bean was receiving care in Germany, where his father, Dana, and his father’s wife, Cheryl, flew on Monday to be with him. Atwater said Bean’s mother also was in Germany.
Atwater said he talked with Bean’s father, who said his son was in stable condition but unresponsive. "Everything I knew of him was very positive. He was a very lively and athletic kid. I know his dad said ... he always had a real sense of right and wrong and knew from an early age that he would end up in the military," Atwater said.
Community leaders and neighbors said last night they are rallying for Bean’s recovery.
"We’re praying that God does what’s right for Matthew," said Julie Caruso, founder of the Pembroke Military Support Group.
She said Bean talked with his father the night before he was shot.
Neighbors described Bean, who graduated from Silver Lake Regional High School in 2003, as a dedicated person who always had a smile on his face.
"He’s a very nice young boy who had the utmost respect for people," said Tom Drummond, a neighbor. "He would help me do yard work when he was [younger]. He was a very hard-working boy ... and he took enjoyment in it."
Midge Nolet, another neighbor, said most of the neighborhood showed their support for Bean and his family by lining the street with yellow ribbons and displaying lights and American flags in their windows. "We are pretty devastated by it," she said. "We’ll support his family and just hope for the best," she said.
Bean was helping in the search for three US soldiers missing since May 12 after their convoy was ambushed south of Baghdad. One of the missing soldiers, Specialist Alex R. Jimenez, is from Lawrence.
A body pulled Wednesday from the Euphrates River was that of one of the soldiers, Private First Class Joseph Anzack Jr. of Torrance, Calif.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
