Name: Air Force Tech. Sgt. Matthew S. Schwartz Age: 23 From: Traverse City, MI Assigned to 90th Civil Engineer Squadron, F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. Incident: Air Force Tech. Sgt. Matthew S. Schwartz died Jan. 5 in Shir ghazi, Helmand province, Afghanistan, when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. Also killed were Senior Airman Bryan R. Bell and Airman 1st Class Matthew R. Seidler.
Remains of fallen Michigan airman back in U.S.
The Associated Press
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The remains of a Michigan native killed earlier in the week in an insurgent attack in Afghanistan have been returned to the U.S., the Air Force said.
Officials at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., confirmed that the body of Tech. Sgt. Matthew S. Schwartz of Traverse City had been flown to Dover Air Force Base, Del.
The 34-year-old and two others died Jan. 5 when an improvised explosive device hit their vehicle in Afghanistan's Helmand province, the Defense Department said.
Schwartz was an explosive ordnance disposal specialist assigned to F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.
He was a 1996 Traverse City Central High School graduate with 12 years in the Air Force and on his sixth deployment.
Those at Traverse City Central were "saddened by his death" and "proud that he was a Trojan," Principal Rick Vandermolen said.
Schwartz's name is expected to be engraved on a bench in a memorial garden at the school, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported.
Also killed in the attack were Senior Airman Bryan Bell, 23, of Erie, Pa., of the 2nd Civil Engineer Squadron at Barksdale, and Airman 1st Class Matthew Seidler, 24, of Westminster, Md., of the 21st Civil Engineer Squadron at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo.
Died: January 5, 2012