By Jacob Conde
Nine miles lay between Pvt. Matthew Nish and his graduation from basic training. After eight weeks of sickness and grueling physical training in the South Carolina summer, the 18-year-old National Guardsman from Pleasant Grove was almost done.
He had spent three days in 'Victory Forge,' the last field exercise before graduation. After 72 hours of living in a foxhole during simulated combat in 99-degree weather, he packed his gear and began the trek toward base, the final lap before the finish line.
Nine miles. He never made it.
About six miles into the hike, Nish collapsed from heat stroke. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died July 14, about an hour after being admitted.
In a letter to his grandparents before the exercise, Nish wrote about his excitement for the training and his impending graduation.
'Wish me well, I''ll tell you how it turns out,' he wrote.
In addition, like all his other letters to his family, Nish also expressed his love for them and the Army he was serving in when he died.
'Basic is turning out to be just what I thought and more,' Nish had written in a previous letter. 'I have my platoon, my brothers in arms. I feel better than I have in a long time.
His drill sergeant, Sgt. Noe Garcia, called Nish the 'professor of the platoon' because of his scholarly look and love of philosophy.
'He had that spark, that glow,' Garcia said. 'Every soldier brings a different aura about them.'
Garcia also said what happened to Nish was not a common occurrence during basic training.
'It''s very isolated,' he said. 'We normally have one heat stroke (case) per year. A very rare incident took place, and a very unfortunate one.'
In addition to philosophy, Nish loved drawing and music. He had taught himself how to play the guitar, and wrote poetry in his free time. Andrew Jolley, a friend of Matthew Nish''s for many years, said Matthew was a 'really deep, funny kid.'
Nish''s mother, Teresa, said Matthew was 'off the walls' with excitement to be part of the U.S. Army and loved the people he worked with.
'He would have followed to hell and back,' she said. 'He was so excited; it was an honor for him to do this.'
Nish''s enthusiasm for the Army remained intact despite a trip to the hospital about three weeks prior to the Victory Forge exercise. He had a 102.1-degree temperature and wrote he felt dehydrated and had diarrhea, but he said he couldn''t wait to continue his training.
Despite this earlier trip to the hospital, Nish seemed to have recovered before entering Victory Forge.
'The fever that he had was not a contributing factor to his collapse,' Garcia said.
Funeral services will be held for Matthew at 11:00 a.m. Friday in the Lakeridge North Stake Center in Orem.