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Region To Honor Zephyrhills Soldier

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 10, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS - June 8 wasn't just any day for Sgt. Marcus C. Mathes.

It was the day he married his sweetheart, Julia, in 2002 - three years before he enlisted in the U.S. Army and shipped out for a five-month tour of duty in war-torn Afghanistan.

Mathes, 26, and three other comrades, including his close friend Mark Stone of Texas, were killed April 28 when a mortar exploded in eastern Baghdad.

Next month, on what would have been their sixth wedding anniversary, U.S. flags at the state Capitol in Tallahassee, the historic Pasco County Courthouse in Dade City and Zephyrhills City Hall will fly at half-staff in honor of his service to the country.

A proclamation, setting the date of June 8 as a day of mourning, will be read at Monday night's regular meeting of the Zephyrhills City Council.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in city hall.

Mathes shipped out for boot camp March 15, 2005, on his 23rd birthday. He served in Afghanistan from October 2006 until March 2007.

A few months later he went to Iraq.

A Zephyrhills High School graduate, Mathes called this east Pasco County city home for more than a decade. He operated a business here before he enlisted in the military.

He was buried Tuesday at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.

A staff report

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