
CAMERON PARK, Calif. — A California soldier has died of wounds he suffered when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Afghanistan.
Pfc. Mathew D. Taylor, 21, died Sept. 26 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
Taylor was born in Carmichael and moved at age 6 with his family to the small Sierra foothills community of Cameron Park.
Family and friends remember Taylor as honest and giving. With spiky blond hair, he enjoyed playing paint ball and video games and later dedicated himself to martial arts.
He enlisted in April 2006 in part to honor his father, who died in a car accident when Taylor was 16. His father had served in the Army.
Taylor’s mother, Patty, was supportive: “How could I not support him when he wanted to do something as honorable as that?”
His life was celebrated...