MATT’S STORY
“Matt was the Captain America of the Marines”
Matt Brewer was born August 8, 1989 in Ann Arbor, Michigan to Tim and Beth Brewer. From the moment he could walk, it was evident Matt was born to be a protector. He looked out for his sisters, the older of which was born severely mentally impaired. Dressed up as the superhero of the day, Matt set about to protect them from all of the evil and villains of the world.
At age five, Matt’s father was hit by a train, lost his leg and died six months later. Surrounded by family and friends and his surrogate grandparents, Jack and Carol Buck, Matt healed and flourished. In addition to the baseball field, Jack would take Matt with him to the local fire station. Awestruck, Matt decided that he would become a firefighter when he grew up.
On his 8th birthday, Matt joined a little league football team and found his true passion: hitting and being hit. His giftedness in the sport was evident immediately and continued to develop in the decade that followed where he won All American and All State honors as a linebacker and fullback at Lafayette Highschool in Wildwood, Missouri. In the off season, Matt took up wrestling and became a top ranked wrestler in the state of Missouri.
At 18, Matt entered the Naval Academy where he would not only play football but find his future calling as a Marine. Matt started at linebacker, where he wore the number 38, and tied the record for the most forced fumbles in a single season. He also won the 2013 Heavyweight Brigade Boxing Championship before graduating with a degree in Political Science. In spite of the challenges he faced in balancing military life, academics and football, he would always look back at his time at the academy with deep gratitude for the coaches and professors who mentored him, the officers who challenged him and, perhaps most importantly, the Brotherhood who not only loved him but became his family.
Upon graduation from the Academy, Matt served as an assistant football coach at Navy before heading to the Marine Infantry Officer School. He then served as a Rifle Platoon Commander and the Combined Anti-Armor Team Platoon Commander in Hawaii with deployments to Japan, Guam and South Korea. Matt went on to complete the MARSOC’s Assessment and Selection Course and was chosen to serve as the Special Operations Expert and Operations Officer at the United Nations in Mali, West Africa. He finished his time in the Marines as a Future Operations Officer at the Marine University in Quantico.
During his time as a Marine, Matt received the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Defense Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the United Nations Medal and the Army Achievement Medal for his work with the Marine Expeditionary Forces working in tandem with the United States Army. As one of his superiors wrote, “Matt was the Captain America of Marines”