Matthew Axelson

Some Lesser Known Facts About Matthew Axelson

• Matthew Axelson was a petty officer second class in the United States Navy SEALs. In 2005, he served in the SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One (SDVT-1), and his team played a crucial role in Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan. He received the Navy Cross posthumously for his involvement in Operation Red Wings, the second-highest accolade in the U.S. Navy, along with the Purple Heart.

• He hails from a Christian family in the US.

  

• Matthew had a liking for soccer, and he began participating in his school’s swim team when he was five. He used to play golf during his high school years and competed for his school in various events.

• Motivated by a friend who was a US Navy SEAL, Matthew chose to enlist in the United States Navy to become a SEAL.

• In December 2000, Matthew reported at the boot camp of the US Navy at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center located in Chicago, Illinois.

• He underwent training as a Sonar Technician – Surface at the STG “A” School in Chicago, Illinois, after completing the military training module at the boot camp.

• Subsequently, he enrolled in Class 237 of the Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) program to become a US Navy SEAL.

• After that, he went to the United States Army Airborne School, popularly known as Jump School, in Fort Moore, Georgia, where he received basic training to become a paratrooper (military parachutist).

• Afterwards, he finished a 26-week program known as SEAL Qualification Training (SQT), and later, he participated in a training module focused on SEAL Delivery Vehicle.

• After completing all the training programs mandatory to become a US Navy SEAL, he was awarded the Insignia for Naval Special Warfare, commonly referred to as the SEAL team trident badge.

  

• Thereafter, he attended the SEAL Sniper school in Indiana to receive specialized training as a marksman.

  

• In December 2002, Axelson was sent to Hawaii as a member of the SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 (SDVT-1).

• In April 2005, Axelson was deployed to Afghanistan as a member of his SDVT-1. The team was tasked with supporting the NATO forces in their operations against the terrorists.

  

• On 28 June 2005, a team of four SEAL operatives led by Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, accompanied by Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz, Petty Officer Second Class Matthew Axelson, and Petty Officer Second Class Marcus A. Luttrell, was sent to the Kunar Province’s mountainous region in Afghanistan. Their mission was to collect information and neutralize or apprehend a senior Taliban commander named Ahmad Shah, believed to be hiding in the Kunar Province. However, their mission was jeopardized when they were found by a local goat herders’ group.
  

  

  According to Marcus Alan Luttrell’s book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10, the team had to make a crucial decision regarding whether to kill the herders and proceed with their mission or let them go and abort. They chose the latter, releasing the herders. However, this led to an ambush by a large Taliban force shortly after, as the herders informed the Taliban about the SEALs’ presence as soon as they were set free. During the ensuing firefight, Murphy, Dietz, and Axelson were killed, while Marcus Luttrell survived but sustained severe injuries.

  

  Luttrell’s claim about the herders informing the Taliban was disputed by Mohammad Gulab Khan, a resident of Salar Ban village in Kunar Province, who rescued the injured Luttrell from the Taliban. According to Gulab, the sound of the helicopter’s rotors, which dropped the four-man SEAL team in the mountains, alerted the enemy fighters in the area. Gulab, in an interview, talked about it and claimed,

  The militants, like many others in the area, heard the helicopter drop the Americans on the mountain, Gulab claims. The next morning, they began searching for the SEAL’s distinctive footprints. When the militants finally found them, the Americans were deliberating about what to do with the goat herders. The insurgents held back. After Marcus Luttrell and the company freed the locals, the gunmen waited for the right moment to strike.”

  

  Axelson received the Navy Cross and Purple Heart posthumously for taking part in Operation Red Wings.

• Matthew Axelson died during Operation Red Wings in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on 28 June 2005. As per reports, Axelson sustained severe injuries while participating in a battle against enemy combatants as part of Operation Red Wings. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and various other areas of his body. Unfortunately, his life was tragically ended when he was struck by a bullet in the head. A group of US Navy SEALs engaged in a combat, search, and rescue mission in the Kunar Province successfully retrieved Axelson’s body on 10 June 2005.
  

  

  He was laid to rest with full military honours at Glen Oaks Memorial Park in Chico, California, on 28 June 2005. ^[2]Veteran Tributes

  

• He liked reading history.

• In the 2013 Hollywood film Lone Survivor, the character of Matthew Axelson was essayed by actor Ben Foster.

  

• Matthew’s father, in an interview, mentioned that, after coming back from his deployment in Afghanistan, Matthew intended to reconstruct his father’s original Triumph TR6 and even sent his father a building manual for the project.

• In 2014, Jeffrey Axelson, Matt’s older sibling, released a book titled A Brother’s Search for an American Warrior, which centred around Matt’s life.