Corporal Cornish died at approximately 0300hrs on Tuesday morning as a result of wounds sustained in a mortar attack on a Multi National Force base in Basra City. Corporal Cornish sustained serious injuries from the explosion and was evacuated by helicopter to the Field Hospital at Shaibah Logistics Base where sadly he subsequently died from his injuries.
Corporal Matthew Cornish was born on 20 July 1977 and grew up in Yorkshire. He enlisted into the Army in Leeds and started his career in Cyprus. An impressive succession of postings followed, including operational deployments to Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, and to Iraq in 2003 and 2004.
He was serving in Iraq with The Light Infantry, normally based in Paderborn, Germany, and was currently three months into a six-and-a-half month tour as part of 20th Armoured Brigade.
Corporal Cornish, or ‘Pastie’, as he was destined to be nick-named, was the sort of character that thrives in the Army. As a young soldier he would take great pleasure in bringing his Army mates home, where he knew they would get a friendly grilling from his Mother, who was a keen Greenpeace supporter.
He was an ‘anti-tanker’, trained in the MILAN weapon system, and a key member of that platoon. Over the last six months in particular, people were starting to notice him, and he was regarded by many as a ‘safe pair of hands’. He had a good eye for detail and was always willing to stand up for his soldiers, as was his manner.
Matthew developed into a trusted and respected Junior Non-Commissioned Officer who was liked by all who met him. In 2006, in Iraq for a third time, his key role was the task of navigating and leading his pair of Warrior Armoured Vehicles around Basra. Within two weeks he knew the city intimately. On the night of his death he had led his Company Commander around some of Basra’s most notorious districts in the pitch dark, with little reference to a map, and with an assurance that was a credit to him.
The Battalion is much the poorer for his loss.