Marine gave life with poem he carried, it has been stolen

Poem found on fallen Marine's body stolen
Memento given to family stolen from truck
WCVB News
Heather Unruh
Aug 25, 2014

FAIRHAVEN, Mass. —He was only 19, when Lance Cpl. Matthew Rodriguez of Fairhaven died in action in Afghanistan last December.

Now, as his family struggles to cope with his death, a theft of something very precious to the Marine. He carried it with him the day he died.

His family hopes it will be recovered.

The Marine and his high school sweetheart Julia Tapper were engaged just a year before Rodriguez was killed on the battlefield last December.

"We would have talks about what might happen to him and he would always tell me not to be sad or crying," said Tapper, Rodriguez's fiance.

"He was always smiling, must a big goofy kid," said the soldier's mother, Lisa Rodriguez.

Holding on to memories is all the family has.

Then on Sunday a precious part of those memories was stolen.

Matthew's truck was broken into in a New Bedford parking lot. Julia's purse was taken.

Inside the purse was Matthew's iPhone and a poem she shared with her lost Marine.

Rodriguez had cut it out, laminated it, and never parted with it. It was found in his helmet the day he died.
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