Widow of fallen Marine raises awareness of drunk driving

Elizabeth Davis became a widow before she was 30 when her husband, Marine 1st Lt. Matthew Davis, was killed in November 2014.

He wasn’t killed in combat. He was killed by a fellow Marine who had too much to drink and got behind the wheel of his pickup truck, leading military police on a wild chase before slamming into Davis’ vehicle at Camp Pendleton, California.

“My husband’s best friend happened to be serving with him and volunteered to do my notification,” Davis told Marines on Friday at Henderson Hall, Virginia. “I know that haunts him every single day: having to knock on my door that morning and tell me that my husband was killed while standing duty; that my husband, who had deployed repeatedly, who had trained dangerously and always came home safely, was killed by one just like you, in uniform.”

Davis spoke at a town hall held by Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller, who showed a picture of her husband for all to see.

“It so important to me that you guys realize that this is not just a picture,” she said. “This isn’t just a story when you leave here. This Marine has two children. He has a little boy who will never have his dad teach him how to ride a bike because of this selfish act. He has a little girl who will never have her dad walk her down the aisle. He left behind hundreds of Marines who love him, who bled with him, who served with him.”

Davis urged the Marines in attendance Friday to take her husband’s story to heart so that their loved ones don’t have to endure losing them before their time.

“This is so easily preventable,” she said. “If you don’t do it for yourself, please do it for everyone around you. Your wives, your children, your parents do not deserve this extremely preventable knock on their door. Your brothers don’t deserve to carry you to an early grave.”