Mother of Fallen Soldier Wants Questions Answered
WASHINGTON – Nearly one year after Mathew Boule died fighting in Iraq, the only personal possessions the Army has given his parents are the 22-year-old soldier’s socks and underwear, a wallet and part of his wristwatch.
But Sue and Leo Boule, of Dracut, Mass., never received the one item that meant the most to them.
“They didn’t give us his uniform. Nothing. Which I would have liked to have had because at least it was something. We would have liked something,” Sue Boule said in a recent interview. “I mean, they even sterilized his wallet.”
Mathew Boule, an Army specialist, died April 2, 2003 – two weeks after the U.S. invaded Iraq — when his Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a firefight. He was the first Massachusetts resident to die in the war.
As the anniversary of his death approaches, his parents are grappling not only with their grief, but with what Sue Boule describes as an Army so bogged down in bureaucracy it doesn’t respond to her questions. She said in a telephone interview that she is frustrated to still be waiting for the Army to pay her son’s death benefits.
Boule said she still has questions the Army failed to address, namely why it never returned Mathew’s clothes or allowed an autopsy to be performed. “People don’t answer questions,” she said.
She said she has still not received all the items Mathew brought with him to Iraq, including a digital camera.
Since the war began last March 19, 570 American service members have been killed and 3,273 injured, according to the Pentagon’s tally on Tuesday.
Approximately four American service members have been killed each week since the beginning of January. In November alone, 92 service members died.
“My own feeling is I hope it stops,” Boule said. “I just hope we don’t lose any more.”
Boule said she has been given the runaround from the Army as she worked to retrieve her son’s missing things. “I’m sure they have other things that are more important to them, but they have to realize that there are things that are more important to us, too,” she said.
The Defense Department gives a $12,000 death gratuity to survivors of service members killed in action, and reimburses burial expenses up to $6,900. Survivors are also reimbursed for any leave time their relative left unused and for up to $250,000 in life insurance. Other benefits are available only to a service member’s spouse or children, but Mathew Boule had none.
Shari Lawrence, spokeswoman for Army Human Resource Command, said that because Mathew Boule’s rank was “very junior, some of the other benefits don’t kick in.” She would not say how much the Pentagon has paid the Boule family.
Boule said the Army helped pay for her son’s funeral, though she declined to say how much. But she said she is still waiting for additional payments she was promised.
Boule said despite her frustrations, she has some positive feelings about the Army, which her son joined when he graduated from high school. “They did good with Mathew,” she said. “They taught him. He liked it.”
She said she and her husband find comfort in sharing experiences with others who have lost loved ones in the war. “The families stick together. That’s where we’re getting help,” she said. “From each other.”
Boule said she feels torn between supporting the soldiers still in Iraq and wanting the war to end. “Most of the soldiers we’ve been in touch with say they are there for a reason. They all say the same thing, that Mathew’s death was not in vain and that he died for a reason,” Boule said.
“But as a mother, I’d love them all to come home right now. People out there can’t imagine what you go through,” Boule said, “even a year later.”
