BY IRENE LABOMBARDE

A 21-year-old Bedford soldier stationed in Afghanistan was injured on June 20 by shrapnel from an improvised explosive device, or IED.  

Cpl. Matthew James Young, a member of C Company 1/503 Task Force Eagle, was airlifted to a trauma center in Bagram, Iraq, for treatment. Young grew up in Bedford and is a 2003 graduate of West High School.

“On Wednesday (June 20), I got a phone call from the U.S. Army saying that Matt was injured,” said his mother, Roxanne Young of Bedford. “They didn’t have any details other than he had been hit in the neck and jaw by some debris. They called it a rock. I wondered, how big a rock? Is his jaw still attached? The imagination goes crazy, but it’s really not so bad.”  

The Army gave her an 800-number to call for information on her son’s condition, and Young said she was glad to feel connected.

On Thursday, June 21, Young got to speak to him directly. Cpl. Young told his mother he and another member of his team found an IED and were ordered to use their rocket launchers to detonate it. He said he didn’t realize that a piece of shrapnel had entered his neck until he began to bleed.

“He wasn’t on top of it. It didn’t blow him up,” she said.

While being treated at the trauma center, doctors decided not to perform surgery to remove the shrapnel, Young said.

Through it all, Young has maintained her sense of humor.

“He’ll have a little souvenir,” his mother said.

Cpl. Young is back in Afghanistan now and after a two-week recovery period, he will return to his duties. Matthew has two brothers: Jonathan, 20, a Army Reservist, not active, who has completed one year at Georgia State College and is enrolling at UNH in fall; and Adam, 16, a senior at West High School. He is also the son of Mark Young of Meredith.