Expressway interchange named to honor fallen Marine
Siblings Cheryl Matty, Jim Matty and Wayne Matty unveil the new sign near the West Brownsville/Fredericktown interchange on the Mon-Fayette Expressway, honoring Marine Cpl. Thomas R. Matty. Tom was killed Dec. 21, 1967, while serving in Vietnam.
Beth-Center High School teacher and coach Frank Pryor shakes the hand of Shirley Matty after talking about her son, Thomas R. Matty, a Marine who was killed in 1967 while serving in Vietnam. Pryor was a recipient of the Tom Matty annual award in 1972 that honors baseball players that attend Beth-Center.
Jim Matty talks about his brother, Marine Cpl. Thomas R. Matty, who was killed in Vietnam in 1967. An interchange on the Mon-Fayette Expressway was named after the fallen veteran.
Marine Cpl. Thomas R. Matty
Editor’s note: This story was updated to clarify family relationships.
Shirley Matty has a lot of sweet memories of her son, Tom. But the jelly stains really stick out.
“Jim was always the paper boy,” she said of another son, who got brotherly assistance on his morning deliveries. “Tom always had to have his milk and jelly bread before he went out. There was always a smear of jelly on his papers.”
Nearly 48 years after his death, Tom is still leaving his mark.
A sign proclaiming “Marine Cpl. Thomas R. Matty Memorial Interchange” was unveiled Saturday near the West Brownsville/Fredericktown exit of the Mon-Fayette Expressway. More than 100 people, including about 30 military veterans, attended the public ceremony honoring the fallen hero, mere miles from his Denbo home.
His mother Shirley, sister Cheryl and brothers Jim and Wayne were among family members and friends who gathered along the berm of Interstate 43, listening to state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, and other speakers lauding a man who lost his life in Vietnam at age 22. Matty was killed in Quang Nam Province Dec. 21, 1967, six weeks after arriving in the Southeast Asian nation. He is one of 67 Washington County residents who died in that war.
He graduated from Beth-Center High School, where he played baseball and football and has a trophy named after him. Each spring, baseball coach Frank Pryor presents the Tom Matty Award to a player who has been on the team for four years, started for at least three and maintained a 3.0 grade point average.
From all accounts Saturday, Matty excelled beyond the diamond and stadium.
“No matter what he did in his short life, he did it well,” said Jim Matty, a retired teacher from suburban Philadelphia. “He was a role model. I’ve sometimes wondered how he would have done if he had lived, and I have no doubt he would have been successful because he was Tom.”
Shirley, who now lives in Las Vegas along with her daughter, seconded those sentiments.
“Tom never questioned anything I would ask him to do,” said Shirley, whose husband Andy died about a decade ago. “No one had a bad word for him or Jim.”
State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll Township, likewise had positive words for Matty – and his Vietnam era brethren.
“Today, we pay tribute to an honorable man,” she said during the late-morning festivities. “Too many Vietnam veterans not only have been ignored, but scorned and ridiculed over the years. It’s about time to honor these military personnel who served America. They deserve our honor and respect.”
County Commissioners Larry Maggi, a former Marine, and Diana Irey Vaughan also addressed the throng. Maggi lamented that time tends to diminish the impact of significant events.
“Sometimes, we tend to forget wars like this,” he said. “But there are costs that go on a lifetime.”
This was the second dedication ceremony in two days for a local serviceman killed in action. On Friday morning, the Route 88 bridge over Muddy Creek in Cumberland Township was named for U.S. Army Cpl. Richard W. Kowalewski, who died Oct. 3, 1993, in a street battle in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Kowalewski, a Carmichaels High School graduate, was a 20-year-old Ranger when his convoy was attacked while trying to rescue helicopter pilots who had crashed. Eighteen servicemen died in the two-day operation, which was the basis for the novel and movie “Black Hawk Down.”
Snyder sponsored the bills honoring these servicemen, which the state House passed unanimously in February. Gov. Tom Wolf signed them into law in May.
Saturday’s dedication elicited a range of emotions – tears, smiles, laughter, grief. Several speakers choked up. Hugs and handshakes were abundant.
Shirley Matty, her heart broken nearly a half-century ago, fielded a number of those hugs. She grinned while speaking with reporters, relating familial stories and exuding pride in her son, who was missing physically, of course, but present nonetheless – minus the jelly stains.
“God blessed us,” she said, “because Tom was so wonderful.”