[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6946-6947]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING MATTHEW DRAKE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, this week Matthew Drake, a soldier who had 
been serving our Nation in Iraq, was awarded the Purple Heart for grave 
injuries he sustained on October 15, 2004, in Anwar Province, Iraq. May 
I please extend to him and to his family warmest congratulations and 
deepest gratitude on behalf of the people of the United States.
  Private First Class Drake, a resident of Toledo, Ohio, and graduate 
of Sylvania North High School, while driving a 6-ton truck became the 
only survivor of a bombing. Comatose, he had a fractured skull, severe 
head injuries, multiple back injuries, many broken bones, and damage to 
his right arm and shoulder. He underwent many surgeries while 
hospitalized in Germany at both military as well as German private 
hospitals and more after traveling to Walter Reed Army Hospital here in 
Washington where he remained in a coma for many weeks.
  Matthew Drake survived by all accounts miraculously and will undergo 
rehabilitation for a very long time. He has been courageous in his 
journey. He said this week that on receiving this Purple Heart he 
wanted to be able to stand from his wheelchair in order to have it 
pinned on him.
  Throughout the months since Matt was wounded, his family has 
struggled to afford what is necessary to help him to travel to the 
hospitals on our coasts where people have been trying to help him. For 
his family to be near him and to help his very long rehabilitation, a 
fund was established at Sky Bank in Toledo, Ohio, on his behalf.
  Last week, I attended a spaghetti dinner which was a fundraiser 
arranged by Matt's family and friends to raise the money, at least part 
of it, required for this son of our Nation to continue his progress 
with the support of his family. And before I left, they gave me this T-
shirt to remember Matt. And it says on it, ``The Long Road Home, 
Matthew Drake, Army Special Forces Injured in Iraq. He was there for 
us. October 15, 2004.''

[[Page 6947]]

  Matthew Drake was born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1983. He was raised in 
Sylvania and attended Maplewood Elementary School. He played soccer and 
was a Boy Scout and a member of Olivet Lutheran Church. While a student 
at Northview High School, Matthew was a wrestler and excelled in 
gymnastics. He trained in the martial arts, played guitar, and was an 
honor roll student.
  After graduation, he started college at Bowling Green University and 
worked for the United Parcel Service, but 1 year later he felt duty-
bound to serve our country. He left college and enlisted in the United 
States Army on October 13, 2002. Following training, he was assigned to 
Special Forces Bravo Company and sent to Iraq on September 7 just 
having turned 21. Not 6 weeks later he was promoted to specialist and 2 
days after that the attack that changed his life forever occurred.
  Now facing the greatest challenge of his young life, to return from a 
near mortal head and bodily injuries and trying to regain as much 
strength as he can, Matthew Drake's dream of becoming a physical 
therapist have turned to dreams of gaining inches of recovery day by 
day. He had always planned to work in a profession where he could be of 
help or service to other people. Yet his commitment to his family, his 
feeling responsible to protect his younger siblings brought him to a 
most dangerous place. He felt he had a job to do, and he did it.
  How many times have we heard that sentiment echoed by the families of 
the more than 11,000 service members injured in Iraq? Matthew Drake 
joins the 6,050 of those who were not able to shortly return to duty 
and whose future in service to America and their God will take another 
form.
  Matthew faces struggles of rehabilitation most of us cannot imagine. 
Even swallowing whole food is still not possible. Matthew's story 
represents one family's heroic struggle multiplied by more than 11,000 
families whose loved ones have been injured and the over 1,550 who have 
had to lay their loved ones to rest.
  Our government must assure that we properly care for and fully 
compensate these young people through their entire recuperation and 
lifetimes. Why should a family have to have spaghetti dinners in order 
to have the funds necessary to travel to be with one of these severely 
injured veterans who have come home?
  Matthew is a quiet and shy young man who loves to laugh, especially 
enjoys children and animals, and who joined the Army to make the world 
safer. He represents the citizenship ideals of hundreds of thousands of 
service members whose value we should not forget.
  The explosion that so injured Matt on October 15, 2004, killed all 
his colleagues but him. His injuries were grave. He was never expected 
to live. Matthew Drake survived by miracle and support of his family. 
His mother, Lisa, has never left his bedside since he has returned 
Stateside, and his father Tom has traveled time and again to be with 
him.
  On April 18, 2005, with his mother and father by his side, along with 
his immediate family and friends, Matthew was awarded the Purple Heart. 
Matthew had made a promise to his parents that no matter what he would 
try to stand dressed in his uniform to receive this special honor. He 
needed help to do that, but he did it.
  Four Star General Douglas Brown, who presides over the Special 
Operations Units for all branches of the military, was given the honor 
of presenting the Purple Heart Award to Specialist Matthew T. Drake.
  Our hearts swell with Matt and his family, not only because he was 
awarded such a prestigious and significant medal but because he lived 
to receive it and understands the meaning of words duty, honor, and 
country.
  Congratulations to Matt. We love you.

                 [From the Toledo Blade, Oct. 19, 2004]

  Sylvania Soldier Survives Suicide Attack; Northview H.S. Grad is in 
          Coma, with Skull Fracture, Injuries to Arm, Shoulder

                     (By Elizabeth A. Shack Blade)

       A Sylvania soldier was seriously hurt in a car bombing in 
     Iraq on Friday that killed four other people, and his family 
     and friends are anxiously awaiting word on his recovery.
       Pfc. Matthew T. Drake, who is in an Army Psychological 
     Operations unit based at Fort Bragg, N.C., arrived at 
     Ramstein Air Base in Germany last night on his way to 
     Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
       On Friday, Private Drake was driving a truck near the town 
     of Qaim near the Syrian border. Two other psychological 
     operations soldiers, a Marine, and an Iraqi translator were 
     killed in the suicide attack.
       Private Drake was in a coma when he reached a military 
     hospital and also has injuries to his head, right arm, and 
     shoulder, including a fractured skull.
       ``It's an unbelievable miracle that he survived,'' his 
     aunt, Linda Marie Domini, said.
       He has had several surgeries for his head injuries and will 
     have more surgeries when he is in a more stable condition. He 
     will eventually be transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical 
     Center.
       Private Drake graduated from Sylvania Northview High School 
     in 2001 and attended Bowling Green State University for a 
     year. In October, 2002, he left to join the Army.
       He wanted to protect his younger siblings, Heather 
     Schuster, a sophomore at Northview, and Michael Schuster, a 
     sixth grader at Arbor Hills Junior High.
       ``He really felt called to serve,'' his aunt said, ``He 
     wanted to go fight the terrorists over there rather than have 
     them come over here.''
       A member of the 9th PsyOp Battalion, Bravo Company, Private 
     Drake left for Iraq on Sept. 7, two days after his 21st 
     birthday, assigned to a three-man psychological operations 
     unit. He drove an armored six-ton truck with a speaker.
       His aunt said he felt that he had a job to do and he was 
     going to do it, and he promised his mother, Lisa Schuster, 
     that he'd come home. His father is Thomas Drake of Toledo.
       ``He's coming home a Purple Heart veteran,'' his aunt said, 
     her voice breaking.
       Private Drake, who was a wrestler his junior and senior 
     years in high school and is a certified personal trainer, was 
     thinking of becoming a physical therapist, Mrs. Domini said.
       Friends and family described Private Drake, who belongs to 
     Olivet Lutheran Church in Sylvania, as a kind, funny, and 
     generous man.
       Matt Serror, who has known Private Drake since they played 
     soccer together in elementary school, said he was quiet and 
     shy in high school but always helped people out, whether he 
     was shoveling snow for an elderly neighbor or dropping a 
     dollar in a can by a cash register.
       ``It's the little things you might not think about,'' Mr. 
     Serror said. ``He's one of those people that doesn't come 
     around every day.''
       When his aunt's 150-pound Rottweiler was recovering from 
     surgery, Private Drake carried him outside when needed to go 
     outdoors.
       In an e-mail to his mother a week before the attack, he 
     wrote that he had befriended a feral dog that ran around the 
     encampment where he lived with two other men in a room the 
     size of a two-car garage.
       ``We pray that when he does come out of his coma that he's 
     still Matthew,'' Mrs. Domini said.
       Sky Bank branches are accepting donations to the Matthew T. 
     Drake fund. His aunt said that if he doesn't survive, the 
     money will go to families of other wounded soldiers.
       But she said their family is one of strong faith, and they 
     believe he's going to make it.
       ``We certainly ask for people who believe in prayer to pray 
     for his recovery,'' Mrs. Domini said.

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