Lead the Way Fund, Inc. is a non-profit organization established to raise funds in support of disabled U.S. Army Rangers and the families of Rangers who have died, have been injured or are currently serving in harm’s way around the world. Lead the Way Fund, Inc. will provide spouses and children of deceased, disabled or active duty Rangers with assistance for health and wellness programs and other services determined to be vital to the family’s well-being.
Matthew A. Commons, 21, was from Boulder City, Nevada, and volunteered for military service with the United States Army, July 7, 2000.
He completed basic training and advanced individual training in the military operational specialty of infantryman at Fort Benning, Georgia. He volunteered for the second time to attend Airborne School and completed his airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia. On April 4, 2001, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia.
Corporal Commons was a M203 Grenade Launcher Gunner while assigned to 1st Battalion. He was killed while fighting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda during Operation Anaconda, the most intense fighting thus far in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. He died March 3 in combat after enemy gunfire forced down a MH-47 Chinook helicopter, in which he and his fellow Rangers were aboard.
As a Ranger, Corporal Commons distinguished himself as a member of the Army’s premier light-infantry unit and was a highly trained and motivated soldier. He was posthumously promoted to corporal from private first class.
His parents, Mr. Greg Commons and Ms. Patricia Marck, both of Alexandria, Virginia, survive him.
