More than 130 people attended services for Army Capt. Matthew Augsut,including family members, former classmates, instructors and Sen. Jack Reed.

08:14 AM EST on Tuesday, February 3, 2004

BY PAUL DAVIS
Journal Staff Writer

Everything he had worked for, hoped for and prayed for, was now his. He was a soldier, an officer in the United States Army, one of its very best . . . The Rev. Robert L. Marciano, R.I. Air National Guard chaplain

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Matthew August, a young man who wanted to lead soldiers, yesterday was buried by them.

At his graveside, seven members of West Point's honor guard, their shiny shoes dirtied by mud and snow, fired M-14s three times into the cold air. The gunfire echoed across the white cemetery and the nearby icy Hudson River.

Six other soldiers lifted and folded an American flag draped over August's casket. His wife Maureen -- serving in Iraq when her husband was killed by a bomb last week -- wiped her eyes once while the soldiers turned the flag into a neat triangle.

In the bleak winter light, clergymen and friends remembered the 28-year-old August, who went to school in North Kingstown. More than 130 people attended the two-hour service, including family members, former classmates, instructors and Sen. Jack Reed. Part of the service was held at the Church of the Most Holy Trinity where August was married.

August was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Meritorious Service medals.

"Captain Matthew August was a true patriot and a true hero and a true friend to us all," said the Rev. Robert L. Marciano, a chaplain with the Rhode Island Air National Guard.

As a boy and then an athlete and student at Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick, August was "full of life," Marciano said.

At West Point, August fell in love with fellow cadet Maureen Elizabeth Innes. In 1998, they married at the West Point church.

"His quick smile and ever-present charm made you love him as soon as you met him," Marciano said.

In 1997, August graduated from West Point. His mother, Donna, trembled as she pinned a gold bar onto her son's uniform, Marciano said. "In an instant" August went "from academy student to army officer," he said.

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski LAID TO REST: Members of the West Point Honor Guard carry the casket of Army Capt. Matthew J. August, of North Kingstown, who was killed in Iraq last week.

His loss was a terrible blow, he said. But August was a man of faith, too. His faith, in fact, was so strong it "made a difference in everything he did."

During yesterday's service, two honor guard soldiers wheeled August's casket into the front of the church. Maureen sat in the front, close to her husband. Red and purple hues -- filtered from four stained-glass windows -- fell on the lid.

August was killed by a homemade bomb in a roadside attack in Khaldiyah. Some 60 miles west of Baghdad, Khaldiyah lies in the so-called Sunni triangle, between the trouble spots of Fallujah and Ramadi, and has been the scene of other attacks.

August, commander of B Company, 1st Engineer Battalion out of Fort Riley, Kan., had been in Iraq since Labor Day.

His wife Maureen had been deployed with the 1st Armored Division to Baghdad four months earlier. During that time, they saw each other only once, said August's father, Richard.

"He treated Maureen like she was the greatest person on earth," said Robert Sundy, who roomed with August during their junior and senior years at West Point.

"There are no words to describe him," Sundy said. "He was definitely a professional soldier, but that was just part of him. He would give you anything if you asked him -- but it never came to that. You never had to ask."

Journal photo / Steve Szydlowski SOMBER CEREMONY: Maureen August, center, widow of Capt. Matthew August, is surrounded by family at yesterday's graveside service - in the center is the fallen solider's father, Richard August, and brother Mark August, of the Air Force, is at right.

His brother, Mark, graduated from the all-male Catholic school earlier, and joined the Air Force. Matthew chose the Army because he wanted to lead soldiers, his father said.

While at West Point, August kept a poem called "A Soldier" in his pocket. Yesterday, Marciano read it.

"I was that which others did not want to be. I went where others feared to go and did what others failed to do . . . and I reluctantly accepted the thought of eternal loneliness should I fail," he said.

"I have seen the face of terror, felt the stinging cold of fear and enjoyed the sweet taste of moments of love. I have lived times others would say were best forgotten. At least someday I will be able to say, I can be proud of what I was: a soldier."