PV2 Matthew T. Zeimer

Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 3-69 Armor fighting with Task Force 1-37 Armor

Born: 31 Aug 1988 in Miles City, Montana

Killed in Action: 2 Feb 2007  (aged 18) in Ramadi, Iraq

Buried: Dawson County Cemetery, Glendive, Montana

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SPC Alan E. McPeek, A/16 EN, and PVT Matthew T. Zeimer, HHC/3-69 AR were both killed by friendly fire while fighting off an Al Qaeda assault on Combat Outpost Grant in Ramadi, Iraq. The attack came during our relief in place and on Matthew’s very first night at the COP. Grant was very near the boundary between the Bandits and an adjacent task force. When the enemy attacked Grant, they also engaged the adjacent unit’s positions to keep them pinned down. In the heat of the fight, a tank crew from the adjacent unit became disoriented and fired on Grant by mistake. Tragically, that round struck a rooftop fighting position and killed Alan and Matt. At the time we didn’t know it was “friendly fire;” we thought it was recoilless rifle or rocket fire and it took some time for an investigation to uncover the sad truth.