Family trying to cope with GI's death

 
Feb. 28, 2004

Only when his son's casket has made the 8,000-mile trip from Iraq to Phoenix will the horrifying news of Matthew's death be real.

Norbert Laskowski, 60, of Yarnell, clenched his eyelids Friday, trying to fight back his tears.

"I can't believe that he is gone, that he won't be coming back."

Matthew Laskowski, a chief warrant officer for the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, was serving in Iraq when his helicopter crashed Wednesday.

"It seems like a dream," his father said. "Maybe I'll understand once his body is back with us."
Matthew, who grew up in Phoenix and graduated from Maryvale High School, was flying an Army Kiowa helicopter when it crashed into the Euphrates River about 120 miles northwest of Baghdad. Family members said Army officials told them the helicopter clipped power lines.

Matthew Laskowski holds daughter Isabel while wife Jennifer holds Aniela in a photo taken in January when he was home on leave._______________

But Jennifer, Matthew's wife, has a hard time believing that.   She shook her head as she sat in the dining room of her  mother's Phoenix home, where she and their daughters,   Isabel, 5, and Aniela, 1, have been living since Matthew left   for Iraq.   "He was such a careful pilot," Jennifer, 31, said. "He was  cocky, but he knew how to fly well."  Aside from his family, flying was Matthew's passion. The   former Navy mechanic didn't just dream about piloting the  planes and helicopters he worked on, he was adamant about  making it happen, Jennifer said. He left the Navy for the  Army and got the training to make it official.  Matthew, who was based at Fort Carson, Colo., had been   serving in Iraq for about a year. He missed getting to come

home for Christmas but caught a two-week furlough in January.  His youngest brother, Jeff, 26, picked him up at the airport and took him to a Valley restaurant to wait for Jennifer. She was overcome, seeing him standing in the corner, dressed in his fatigues. The man she had known since she was
15 was suddenly home. "He was and is my soul mate," she said Friday.

The couple made good use of their time and went to Colorado Springs to pick out the house she would make a home for his return.

Doug Laskowski, 35, the oldest of Matthew's three brothers, said his brother was proud to serve his country.

"When he was here in January, he talked about the condition people were living in. He said he understood why they were there. He wanted to make it better."

Brad Laskowski, 28, said that if it was Matthew's time to die, his family received a blessing by getting to see him in January.

"He got to see so many people when he was here," Brad said. "He got to tell everyone he loved them."

Matthew had only about another month left to serve in Iraq before coming back.

When Jennifer took him to the airport for his return to duty, Isabel clung to his side.

"I turned and looked at him. She said, 'My daddy, my daddy.' He just broke down," Jennifer said. "He knew what he would be facing back in Iraq and he didn't want to be away from us."

On the day she got word of his death, two letters from Matthew arrived in the mail. She was crushed by the realization that he had died. "But I will always have his voice," she said, her own voice breaking. "Before he left, he recorded his voice that went into two little bears for our girls. That's the voice I can hear."

by Connie Cone Sexton
The Arizona Republic

 The Matthew Laskowski memorial fund has been established at Arizona Federal Credit Union, account #5425551.

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Send condolences to Laskowski's family
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Army Chief Warrant Officer Matthew C. Laskowski
 

Happiness to Matthew Laskowski was a dirty diaper.

"When he would come back from Iraq, everything (about his daughters) was his job," said his older brother, Doug Laskowski. "He got to do all the things he didn't normally get to do."

Matthew Laskowski loved flying, scuba diving and Mexican food, but none of those came close to the way he felt about his daughters.

"The biggest thing, his biggest hobby, was spending time with his daughters," Doug Laskowski said.

He watched them, washed them, fed them - even changed their diapers.

"He just loved every minute of it. He would do everything," his brother said. "Family was first to him. He loved to spend time with them, take them to the zoo."

For his last furlough, Matthew Laskowski managed to sneak into Phoenix to surprise his family.

"When he found out he was coming home, he didn't call his wife, his dad. He didn't call me," Doug Laskowski. "He called (younger brother) Jeff and said, 'Can you keep a secret?' "

Jeff Laskowski picked up his older brother at the airport.

"Jeff called Jennifer (Matthew Laskowski's wife) to have lunch with him, and Matthew surprised her," Doug Laskowski said.

The next night, Jeff and Jennifer arranged a family dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.

"We walked into a restaurant, and he was standing there in his fatigues with a big ol' smile on his face."

by Brian D. Crecente
Rocky Mounain News
 

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