Solemn ceremony to honor memory of an Indiana Marine

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Kevin Rader/Eyewitness News

Anderson, May 20 - It was a fitting sendoff for a United States Marine. Lance Corporal Matthew Smith was laid to rest at Anderson Memorial Park Cemetery.

The 20-year-old Pendleton Heights graduate served in Operation Iraqi freedom but was killed when the vehicle he was driving struck a parked trailer in a convoy in Kuwait.

Smith's cousin Sgt. Keith Gaskill, who was in the Marines four years ago, assisted in the Marine ceremony. "We wrote each other while he was in Iraq. I knew he was dedicated to what he was doing. I know he loved to play rugby. He loved being a Marine."

Chief Warrant Officer Suzanne Handshoe said this was a very hard day. "This is extremely difficult for me because Lance Corporal Smith was one of my Marines. It's never easy to bury a Marine, but it's even more difficult when it's one of yours."

"He was an extremely focused young man. For a 20-year-old corporal that is pretty unusual, but he knew he wanted to be an officer."

Gaskill recalls, "He made up his mind over there, he wanted to do what it took to be a Marine sgt., finish school and become a Marine officer someday."

He didn't get to graduate from Indiana University and he didn't get to become a officer, but Matthew Smith did get to become a Marine, and that is how he will be remembered.

Lance Corporal Matthew Smith graduated from Pendleton Heights High school in 2001 and was attending IU majoring in history.