Hometown: Tallahassee, FL
Branch: U.S. Navy
Unit: SEAL Naval Special Warfare Development Group
Military Honors: Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: March 28, 2002 - KIA near Kandahar, Afghanistan
Age: 35
Conflict: War in Afghanistan, 2001-2021

Matthew Bourgeois came from a military family. His great-grandfather fought in World War I (1914-1918), his grandfather had a 30-year career in the U.S. Navy, and his uncle served in the Vietnam War (1959-1975). His brother-in-law was a Navy SEAL.

Born in Illinois on January 18, 1967, Bourgeois moved with his family to Tallahassee, Florida, as a young boy. According to his family, Matthew was an avid deer hunter and fisherman. He graduated from Leon High School in Tallahassee.

Bourgeois joined the Florida National Guard in 1984 and served until he enlisted in the Navy in August 1987, training as a Hospital Corpsman. In 1988, he began the rigorous training required of a Navy SEAL—including underwater demolition/SEAL training at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado (California) and basic parachutist training at Fort Benning (Georgia).

During his first assignment with SEAL Team 2, Bourgeois was deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. In 1995, he returned to Coronado, CA, for four years serving and training with SEAL Team 1.

Beginning in May 1999, Bourgeois joined the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, stationed at Naval Air Station Dam Neck Annex in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Bourgeois was promoted to Chief Petty Officer in September 2001. Just weeks earlier he and his wife Michelle had welcomed a son, Matthew Jr.

Bourgeois and his Naval Special Warfare Development Group deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Their assignment was to help ensure al Qaeda terrorists could no longer train or launch strikes from Afghanistan following their attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.

On March 28, 2002, Bourgeois and his fellow SEALs were on a “refresher training” exercise near Tarmac Farms, an abandoned al Qaeda terrorist training camp—and former home to Osama Bin Laden—near Kandahar, Afghanistan. CPO Bourgeois was killed in a ground explosion.

When Americans first went into Afghanistan to root out al Qaeda terrorists, an estimated 10 million land mines were set or still in place from more than two decades of conflict.

Matthew J. Bourgeois had been expected to return home within a month. His son Matthew Jr. was just 7 months old. In a statement, Bourgeois’ wife Michelle described her husband: “He had perseverance and determination, which made him excellent at his job. He was always striving to be the best; hence, this made him an outstanding SEAL. Matt knew it was a difficult and dangerous job, but that never deterred him. He loved being a SEAL and working with his teammates, no matter in what circumstances.”

CPO Matthew J. Bourgeois is honored on the Memorial Wall at the Navy Seal Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida.

Sources
Tallahassee Democrat, March 29, 2002: Local man dies in Afghanistan
The New York Times, March 29, 2002—A Nation Challenged: The Casualty; Serviceman Is Killed in Afghan Exercise
Washington Post, Faces of the Fallen: Chief Petty Officer Matthew J. Bourgeois
CBS News, American Losses: Chief Petty Officer Matthew J. Bourgeois
Pritzker Military Museum and Library: HMC (SEAL) Matthew Bourgeois
Veteran Tributes: Matthew J. Bourgeois
Burial Site: Find a Grave