Matthew Soper
Sergeant, Army National Guard
July 27, 1981 – June 5, 2007
Age – 25
Kalamazoo, MI
Operation Iraqi Freedom
1461st Transportation Company (Heavy), Michigan National Guard, Jackson, MI
Killed by an improvised explosive device while conducting operations in Bayji, Iraq
Army Private First Class Matthew Soper, or “Big Slick” was full of fun and often surprises. He loved what he was doing and had the backs of his battle buddies. As a National Guardsman he represented his home state of Michigan. In 2005, Soper’s family was celebrating his return from the war. He returned home in February 2005 after nearly a year fighting with the 1462nd Transportation Company of Howell, Michigan. As part of his 2005 homecoming celebration, PFC Soper took down the yellow ribbon around an elm tree in his parents’ yard. It was his way of declaring a returning victory.
After his return, he spent some time in Kalamazoo, taking classes at Kalamazoo Valley Community College until he was called to duty last year. He was among 299 soldiers mobilized in Jackson last June for deployment with the 1461st Transportation Company. It is a truck-driving unit that transports tanks in huge vehicles the Army calls HETs, for heavy equipment transport. The unit was expected to return home in August 2007. PFC Soper, age 25, of Kalamazoo, Mich., died June 6, 2007 in Bayji, Iraq, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device.
He would walk into a room and light up the room and everyone in it. Family recall him doing a dancing entry to “Hillbilly Deluxe,” a country song by Brooks & Dunn. He had a flair for the dramatic as demonstrated by his surprise visit home in March 2007 to celebrate his grandmother’s 80th birthday. The surprise grand entrance was his style. He was a natural and outstanding athlete. He loved playing with little kids and provided great joy to observers when as a big high school kid, he played genuinely with the little ones. Soper was filled with jokes and pop-culture references, and always had a new catchphrase from a movie or song. Of course, he needed a nickname, so he gave himself one: “Big Slick.”
He then proceeded to give similar nicknames to others in the family. His brother Cole was “Big Country,” because of his love of the outdoors. His father, Warner, became “Big Swiss” because he was born in Switzerland.
This twenty-five year old soldier wrote in many of his emails to family in Jackson, “If I die there, don’t think I didn’t die doing what I love.” Everyone knew he was a hero. He was known for always looking out for everyone else. He regularly assured his family in e-mail messages that he believed in what he was doing in Iraq has been killed, the family says. He would sign off each e-mail from Iraq as being from “a bona fide war hero.”
He did that to make us laugh, instead of worry