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Navy Seal’s death mourned by family in Love County
While the community of Bastrop, Texas mourns the loss of Navy SEAL Matthew Mills, members of the Love County community do as well.
Mills, 35, was killed when insurgents shot a rocket at a helicopter in which he and 29 other U.S. troops were being transported on Friday, August 8 in Afghanistan. Twenty-two of the troops on board were Navy SEALS.
Mills first moved to the Falconhead community with his family in the early 1990s and attended Marietta Public Schools. He was listed in the 1991 Marietta yearbook as an eighth-grade student.
After residing in the area for several years, his parents, Steve and Cheryl Mills moved the family to Texas, where Matt graduated from James Martin High School in Arlington.
Some time later Matt returned Love County and married his young love and mother of his children at Red River Ranch.
He has two children from that marriage, a 13-year-old daughter and an 18-year-old son.
Reports indicate that the Mills family moved to Bastrop, which is considered to be Matt’s hometown. His siblings, Ashley and Michael, are said to still live in that area.
Mills was based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He married his current wife in April. He had reportedly just gone to Afghanistan on his 13th deployment after returning from a honeymoon with his wife, Keri a little more than a month ago.
From this marriage he has a one-year-old son.
The chief petty officer served in at least one mission in Iraq and Afghanistan every year for the past 10 years. He was said to be very proud of his military career, having served as a Navy SEAL for 14 years. Military service was a family tradition.
Mills has been spoken well of in Love County.
Friends of his parents said they always knew Matt and his siblings to be “good kids” and used the terms “well-liked” and “highly respected” when speaking of the Mills family as a whole.
His father, Steve, was the general manager of Falconhead Development Corporation during some of the thriving years of Falconhead and Red River Ranch.
Facebook® posts and numerous reports indicate that Mills will be remembered for his laugh and incredible sense of humor.
Matt Mills will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. Private family services for Mills are planned in Oklahoma, Virginia and central Texas.
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