A family mourns the death of 2nd Lt. Matthew S. Coutu, who was killed Monday by a sniper's bullet in Iraq.

09:07 AM EDT on Thursday, June 30, 2005

By KATIE MULVANEY
Journal Staff Writer

NORTH KINGSTOWN -- Since February, Donna Coutu-Freeland has listened for the bark of the neighbor's dogs, a telltale sign a visitor has traveled onto the dead-end street. The dogs started up Monday afternoon.

Journal photo / John Freidah

The mother and stepfather of 2nd Lt. Matthew S. Coutu keep a display of photos at their North Kingstown home. The pictures show Coutu as a child, playing high school football, graduating from officers' training school, and on the day before he was deployed.

"I looked that way. All I saw were those medals coming across the window," Coutu-Freeland said.

It seemed an eternity before Lt. Col. Charles Walsh made it to the door, she said.

"All I asked was, 'Is he alive?' and he said 'No ma'am.' " Coutu-Freeland collapsed.

Her son, 2nd Lt. Matthew S. Coutu, 23, of North Kingstown, died Monday in Baghdad, where enemy forces engaged his convoy with small-arms fire, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. He was assigned to the 64th Military Police Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, out of Fort Hood, Texas.

"I never thought I'd see that man walk by my window," said Coutu-Freeland, wearing her son's fatigue jacket, a gift from their last visit together in January.

Family members and his ROTC instructor at the University of Maine yesterday remembered Coutu as a born leader and a remarkable young man.

"Matt was superior. Matt was truly the very best," said Capt. Jeffrey Weston, assistant professor of military science in the university's ROTC department. "It's easy to toss superlatives around, but he was truly larger than life."

At 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, he struck a commanding presence. He was handsome with dark hair, dark eyes and a quiet confidence.

"He was one of those guys who stands out," Weston said.

For Coutu, the military was a lifelong pursuit. His fascination with the armed forces began early, first with a love of G.I. Joe action figures and then anything associated with the Navy SEALS, his family said.

As a teenager growing up near Chicago, he earned a black belt in karate and became captain of the Lake Forest High School football team. He competed in track, wrestling and shot put. His friends knew the family home as Command Central.

He set two criteria in selecting a college: that it have a strong ROTC program and that he be commissioned upon graduation, said his father, Michael Coutu, of North Hampton, N.H.

"That was a driver for Matt," said Michael Coutu, who served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam.

Matthew Coutu made dean's list as a history major at the University of Maine, graduating with a 3.4 GPA. As a senior, he received the George C. Marshall Award, which is given to the top cadet at each university.

Throughout his college years, he showed stubborn resolve, according to his family. His mother tells of how he dislocated his shoulder early in his Army airborne training. He simply taped his wound and jumped.

"He toughed it out," said David Freeland, his stepfather.

A fitness buff, he placed a self-imposed ban on Taco Bell food, his favorite. He stuck to lean turkey, chicken and salad.

"He felt a tremendous responsibility to the men he would lead," Freeland said.

Coutu immediately began training with the military police at Fort Hood upon graduating last May. He hoped eventually to work for the Secret Service or the FBI, his father said.

Coutu's commitment to his platoon was evident to his father during their last visit, in late January in Texas. The men went out for one of their final nights of revelry before being shipped out. Coutu spent the whole night ferrying his comrades safely home, his father said.

"It speaks highly of him," Michael Coutu said.

On Feb. 9, Matthew Coutu left Fort Hood. A week later, he landed in Iraq, his father said. He was based in Baghdad.

Michael Coutu received his final e-mail from his son last Thursday. Matt was distraught because two members of his unit had been severely wounded, he said.

At 3:18 a.m. on Monday, Matthew Coutu was investigating a firebombing when he was killed by sniper fire, his father said. The bullet entered his lower back an inch below his flak jacket. The bullet then hit the interior of the jacket and reentered his body, causing massive internal injuries, his father said.

According to the Rhode Island National Guard, Coutu is the 13th Rhode Islander to die in the war. Thursday, Lance Cpl. Holly Charette, of Coventry, was killed in what is being described as the bloodiest attack on women at war.

There have been 1,738 military casualties in Operation Iraqi Freedom as of yesterday, according to the Department of Defense.

Governor Carcieri and his wife, Sue, offered their condolences to Coutu's family yesterday.

"I'm sure that I speak for all Rhode Islanders when I say that we truly appreciate the ultimate sacrifice given by Lieutenant Coutu and all American soldiers who are fighting on our behalf," Carcieri said in a news release.

Though he grew up elsewhere, Coutu's roots run deep in Rhode Island. His parents come from old Rhode Island families, his father said. In addition to his parents, Coutu leaves a maternal grandmother, Alice Matarazzo, of Smithfield; a paternal grandmother, Gertrude Coutu, of Warwick; and a brother, Derek, of Norwood, Mass.

The family is awaiting the return of Coutu's body, which remains in Kuwait. It will be sent to Germany en route to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, his father said.

A funeral service will be held at St. John the Baptist Church in West Warwick. Burial will be at Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery in Exeter, Michael said.

Yesterday, as she sat in the kitchen of her home overlooking Narragansett Bay, Coutu-Freeland said that she has thought of her son every second since he was deployed. Her nights have been broken by restless sleep and constant worry.

"I'd wake up and think, 'Gosh, is he OK?' " she said.

Just a week ago, she gazed out at the night sky and wondered if he was looking at the same full moon.

Katie Mulvaney can be reached at kmulvane [at] projo.com or (401) 277-7417.