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Family Dealt 'Tragic Loss'

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By GEOFF FOX

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 6, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS - Sgt. Brandon Bucknor drove 1,400 miles to say goodbye to his friend.

Bucknor, his wife, Dominique, and dozens of others gathered at Zephyrhills Municipal Airport on Monday to greet the body of Sgt. Marcus Mathes, killed last week by a mortar attack in Baghdad.

The Bucknors drove from Fort Sill, Okla., as soon as they learned Mathes, 26, was killed.

"Me and Marcus were in different units, and we joined at different times, but we were in the Army together, so there was always that brotherhood," said Brandon Bucknor, who had known Mathes since high school.

"It's a real surreal feeling. A friend of mine is gone. You can't describe the loss and the void. It's tough, but you do what you have to do to survive."

A visitation was held Monday night at Hodges Funeral Home in Dade City. The funeral will be at noon today at Calvary Assembly of God on U.S. 98 Bypass in Dade City. Burial will follow at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell at 2 p.m.

Mathes' body was flown from Dover, Del., on a charter jet that landed about noon Monday. As skydivers descended, the jet rolled on the tarmac beneath an arc made by water cannons.

As his casket was lowered from the gleaming jet, Mathes' widow, Julia, 24, was comforted by family.

"I'm worried about her," said family friend Steve Michaeli. "She's too young to be a widow."

Mathes, 26, was an equipment driver with the Army. He and three others, including his close friend Mark Stone of Texas, were killed when a mortar exploded in eastern Baghdad on April 28.

His brother-in-law, Bryan Harvey, was in a nearby truck when Mathes' truck was hit, but Harvey was not injured. Harvey accompanied Mathes' body Monday.

Marcus and Julia Mathes were high school sweethearts who married in 2002, just two weeks after Julia graduated. She said last week that it was love at first sight.

On Monday, the family declined to speak with media.

Dominique Bucknor said she was friends with Marcus Mathes in high school and they joined the Army at the same time. When her sister joined the Army and was stationed at Fort Polk, La., she said Marcus and Julia "took her in."

"They really, really helped my sister," she said. "They were like extended family to her, and they didn't even know her. But they knew me, and that's the kind of people they are."

En route to Zephyrhills, the Bucknors stopped at Fort Polk for a ceremony for Mathes and other fallen soldiers. They brought back coins, boots and other items for their friend's family.

"It's just a tragic loss," Brandon Bucknor said. "I can't even speak the words."

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or gfox@tampatrib.com.

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