The Veterans Breakfast Club mourns the passing of Major General William M. Matz, Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.), a soldier who emerged from childhood paralysis to the highest levels of command and service.
We learned of his death from our friend Rich Sherman, who wrote that General Matz passed away in Florida from lung damage due to Agent Orange exposure. “A tough SOB,” Rich wrote, “whose heart was filled with love for his country, his soldiers, and his family.”
That captures well the sense we got when we talked with General Matz after the publication of his memoir My Toughest Battle: A Soldier’s Lifelong Struggle with Polio. You can watch that program here:
Bill Matz was born in 1938 and grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. In August 1944, at not yet six years old, he contracted infantile paralysis during the height of the East Coast polio epidemic. He remembered the moment vividly: standing up from a chair at his grandmother’s house, falling, and not being able to rise again
He was hospitalized for months at the Home of the Merciful Savior in Philadelphia, separated from his family. He was paralyzed from hip to toe in his right leg. Doctors told his mother he would never walk without a brace or crutch
What changed his trajectory was the controversial “Sister Kenny” treatment—hot packs and muscle reeducation rather than immobilizing braces
The therapy was painful and slow, but it allowed some muscle function to return. He would live the rest of his life with an atrophied leg, a limp, and eventually post-polio syndrome. But he could walk, and he could jump.
General Matz rarely spoke about his disability in his early career. As he told us on VBC Live, even close friends and fellow officers often had no idea he had survived polio
In high school, he played football, and at Gettysburg College, he joined ROTC which required special medical evaluations to be admitted because polio was technically disqualifying. He was commissioned in 1961, volunteered for Airborne training and joined the 82nd Airborne Division.
In Korea, he commanded a rifle company near the DMZ, operating within sight of North Korean positions. In Vietnam, as a captain in the 9th Infantry Division’s Mobile Riverine Force, he led Charlie Company in the Mekong Delta. On December 4, 1967, his unit was ambushed in a fierce riverine battle that lasted nearly two days. He coordinated artillery, airstrikes, and maneuver under heavy fire.He later said the hardest part of command was writing letters to the families of soldiers killed under his authority
He would be wounded during the Tet Offensive and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for valor. Over a 30-year career, he earned the Army Distinguished Service Medal, two awards of the Legion of Merit, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, and other decorations.
He later commanded troops during Operation Just Cause in Panama and served as Executive Secretary to the Secretary of Defense during the Reagan administration.
In retirement, General Matz became President of the National Association for Uniformed Services, advocating for veterans and wounded service members. From 2016 to 2019, he served as Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, overseeing America’s overseas military cemeteries and memorials.
He published his memoir last year to leave a record for his seven grandsons.
General Matz was clearly a thoughtful commander. He insisted that leadership meant knowing your soldiers and their strengths and weaknesses.
We are grateful we got to hear the General’s story and for the time he gave to the Veterans Breakfast Club. If you have not yet watched our conversation with him, we encourage you to do so.
Rest in peace, General Matz.
