Military color guard prepare to close a Memorial Day ceremony, presented by the City of Irvine at Col. Bill Barber Memorial Park. The City unveiled a new plaque at the park in memory of U.S. Staff Sgt. Matthew Thompson, an alum of Concordia University Irvine, who was killed in the line of duty on August 23, 2016 in Afghanistan. Concordia also announced the renaming of its Veterans Resource Center to the Staff Sergeant Matthew Thompson Veterans Resource Center. (Photo courtesy of Concordia University Irvine)

U.S. Staff Sgt. Matthew Thompson, a Green Beret who died in Afghanistan Aug. 23, 2016, was recently honored by Concordia University Irvine, which renamed its veterans center after him. (Photo courtesy Concordia University)

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The City of Irvine unveiled a new plaque on Memorial Day in memory of U.S. Staff Sgt. Matthew Thompson, an alum of Concordia University Irvine, who was killed in the line of duty on August 23, 2016 in Afghanistan. Concordia also announced the renaming of its Veterans Resource Center to the Staff Sergeant Matthew Thompson Veterans Resource Center. (Photo courtesy of Concordia University Irvine)



Staff Sgt. Matthew V. Thompson, of Irvine, died last August in Afghanistan, when a roadside bomb detonated near his patrol.

On Memorial Day, the 28-year-old Green Beret in the Army Special Forces was remembered and honored by the city of Irvine and his alma mater, Concordia University Irvine, which renamed its Veterans Resource Center the U.S. Staff Sgt. Matthew Thompson Veterans Resource Center.

“This center will be one of many ways in which Matthew’s legacy will be able to live on and to continue to impact the veteran community,” said Steve Leader, manager of the school’s veterans center.

“Matthew was truly a great person and we want to allow his story to be told,” Leader wrote in an e-mail.

Thompson, who grew up in Brookfield, Wisconsin, graduated from CUI with a Bachelor of Arts in theological studies in December 2010. While a student, he hosted a bible study group. He joined the Army in 2011.

Thompson met his wife, Rachel, while a student at Concordia. On Memorial Day, she was present for a ceremony at Irvine’s annual Memorial Day commemoration to recognize fallen military service members, held at Colonel Bill Barber Marine Corps Memorial Park.

“He wanted to be a Green Beret because he wanted to help people in communities and places a long ways away, that maybe didn’t have a lot of hope,” his father, Mark Thompson, told a CBS news station in 2016.

Concordia University Irvine, a non-profit Lutheran Christian liberal arts college, supports over 80 service members, veterans and their family members annually through its veterans center.