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Aiken father shares letter to fallen Marine son

AIKEN, S.C. (WJBF) — An Aiken Marine gave everything nearly 20 years ago. Now, his family shares the letter they never wanted to write. 'Dear Matt, this is how it's been since you left us and how it is today, my son,' Cpl. Matthew Dillon father Neil Dillon wrote. It's a letter no parent ever wants to write — from a father to his fallen son. Cpl. Matthew Dillon of Aiken was just 25 when he died serving in Iraq. 'There was a knock on the door. It must be UPS, I thought, delivering the Marine Corps flag you promised us for Christmas. At the door, not the UPS, but two Marines in dress blues. 'Are you Neal Dillon, father of Cpl. Matthew Vincent Dillon?' Immediately I knew why they were there. I wanted to scream, 'No, go away!' but I whispered, 'Yes,' the letter continues. Matthew wasn't just a soldier. He was a son, a brother — and a hero. 'Yet there was your mother, wavering before me as the wreckage a woman is when she has lost her child, and I could lay hold of nothing to fend off her pain. The agony was unbearable, crippling,' he said. He graduated military police school with honors and protected President Bush. An IED took his life in 2006. 'Do you remember the talk we had the day before you deployed? 'I'll be back, but if I should fall, I want to be buried a Marine in my dress blues,' you told us. That was how we did it. We buried you three days before Christmas,' he recalled. But his courage lives on here — through scholarships, memorials, and a local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. 'You'd be proud to know that mom kept her head high with only a few mute tears streaking down her cheeks as she observed accepted in the place of a sun. The flag off your coffin,' Dillion shared. Eighteen years later, the pain still lingers. But so does the pride — knowing he lived with honor. 'You were among the few the proud that made the supreme sacrifice for this. You awarded your second purple heart with gold star,' he wrote. They're holding onto the good memories — more now than ever. 'And more often now as we speak of you, it is with joy, the family and friends who loved you and buried you. Thank you forever. America has had no better than you and you were ours. Goodbye Matt. Goodbye. Goodbye.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.