{"id":20331,"date":"2024-03-29T14:20:03","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T20:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/?casualty=holley-matthew-john"},"modified":"2024-05-12T23:23:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T05:23:31","slug":"holley-matthew-john","status":"publish","type":"casualty","link":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/?casualty=holley-matthew-john","title":{"rendered":"Holley, Matthew John"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Date<\/strong>: 11\/15\/2005<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rank<\/strong>: Specialist<\/p>\n<p><strong>Branch<\/strong>: U.S. Army<\/p>\n<p><strong>Operation<\/strong>: Operation Iraqi Freedom<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"200\" data-id=\"25532\" src=\"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/SPC-Matthew-J-Holley-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25532\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Matthew Holley loved people \u2013 even the enemy. His best friend said in Holley\u2019s eulogy: \u201cIt\u2019s beyond my comprehension.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Holley, who was born in Post Falls and whose parents, John and Stacey, live here, died Nov. 15, 2005 of injuries sustained when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee during combat operations in Taji, Iraq, north of Baghdad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spc. Holley, a 21-year-old assigned to the Army\u2019s 1<sup>st<\/sup> Battalion, 320<sup>th<\/sup> Field Artillery Regiment, 101<sup>st<\/sup> Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky., was John and Stacey\u2019s only child. He was in Iraq for about six weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was a fun-loving young man, but he liked a challenge,\u201d John said. \u201cHe told his mother that he decided to be a combat medic because he wanted to serve a cause greater than himself.\u201d Matthew, who was home-schooled, followed his father\u2019s footsteps and completed the Army\u2019s air assault school to become a \u201cScreaming Eagle.\u201d He said, \u2018Now I can put my Jump Wings with yours, Dad,\u2019\u201d Johns said. \u201cThat was a very proud and emotional moment for me.\u201d John said that he and Stacey were \u201cnot really excited\u201d about their son joining the Army in 2003. But with a long list of family members who joined, including his parents, it was one of the obvious options. \u201cSince he\u2019s our only child, I was the pit bull and he was my pup,\u201d John said. \u201cAt first I wondered as a parent what I could\u2019ve done to prevent it, but people tell me that he was a growing man and it was his choice. So I\u2019ve finally come to the realization that I couldn\u2019t have done anything about it. \u201cHe was trying to figure out what to do with this life so we gave him options.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matthew was an artist, a three-time national AAU karate champion and a black belt in tae-kwon-do. And he often combined those passions. With an interest in the Orient, his work included intricate sketches on subjects such as samurais. One of John\u2019s favorite pieces was that of a karate math with a devil and angel in the background to show good and evil. Matthew also liked working with kids and teaching his karate skills. \u201cHe wanted us to send crayons to give to the (Iraqi) kids,\u201d John said. John and Stacey recently received a box from his fellow soldiers. \u201cHis sergeant wrote to tell us that Matt was very happy the last time he saw him,\u201d John said. \u201cAnother soldier wrote that he was doing what he loved to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"casualty-operation":[100],"casualty-tag":[106],"class_list":["post-20331","casualty","type-casualty","status-publish","hentry","casualty-operation-operation-iraqi-freedom","casualty-tag-idaho-casualty"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/casualty\/20331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/casualty"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/casualty"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/casualty\/20331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25534,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/casualty\/20331\/revisions\/25534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"casualty-operation","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcasualty-operation&post=20331"},{"taxonomy":"casualty-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idahofieldofheroes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcasualty-tag&post=20331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}