"'Bobo' Mathews, Who Never Lost Hope, Succumbed" noted the local newspaper.

Ernest L. Mathews was born in the Pajaro Valley in 1929, to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Mathews. He was raised in a family that included one sister and three brothers. Bobo, as he came to be known, spent his formative years in the rural community of Aromas and attended local schools. About 1942 he entered Watsonville High School; however, record of his graduation has not been confirmed. After leaving high school, he was employed by the Granite Construction Company in Watsonville where he continued to work until 1951.

In early 1951 Ernest Mathews was inducted into the US Army. After completing basic training, he received instruction as a light weapons infantryman at an unspecified camp.

Corporal Mathews was sent to Korea during the summer of 1951. Upon arrival he was assigned to the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division. To his surprise Bobo discovered that Peter Vojvoda, an old friend from Watsonville, was also a member of that unit. In July 1951 the 1st Cavalry was located in the hills of North Korea a few miles north of the 38th Parallel. During this period, the regiment fought a month-long series of engagements in an area known as the Punchbowl, that included battles at places with names like Pork Chop Hill, Old Baldy and Heartbreak Ridge.

On October 3, 1951, in action taking place near Heartbreak Ridge, Ernest and Peter were sharing a foxhole when a mortar shell exploded nearby. Mathews instinctively shielded Vojvoda from the blast and although both were injured, Peter was able to carry Ernest back to the American lines.

Mathews was hospitalized in Japan and later flown to Letterman hospital in San Francisco. At the hospital doctors informed him that shrapnel had severed his spinal cord and that there was little chance that he would walk again. Throughout December Bobo's condition worsened and after Christmas dinner with his parents at the hospital on December 27, 1951, Corporal Ernest L "Bobo" Mathews died. His body was returned to Watsonville and following a funeral, was interred in Watsonville Catholic Cemetery.

(NARAK; WIKI, Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, WRP December 28, 1951 1:1, December 29, 1951 2:4)