Matthew M. Burke

Matthew M. Burke has been reporting from Grafenwoehr, Germany, for Stars and Stripes since 2024. The Massachusetts native and UMass Amherst alumnus previously covered Okinawa, Sasebo Naval Base and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, for the news organization. His work has also appeared in the Boston Globe, Cape Cod Times and other publications.

@MatthewMBurke1

burke.matt@stripes.com

Military uniforms are on display in a museum.

Museums preserving history of 82nd Airborne, 2nd Cavalry among 29 on Army shutdown list

Dozens of Army museums around the world dedicated to units, some among the most storied in the service, will disappear over the next three years as part of cost-cutting and efforts to align with Pentagon priorities.

Soldiers wielding flags stand at attention.

Tennessee soldiers take over US training of Ukrainians at Army base in Germany

A smiling child runs down a hill made of sand.

Kaolin cowabunga: Sandy slopes in Bavaria’s Hirschau make former mining waste heaps of fun

Two soldiers in tactical gear move through a dense cloud of yellow smoke in a wooded area. One soldier is prone on the ground in the foreground, while another is partially visible in the background. Multiple smoke canisters are emitting thick yellow smoke, obscuring much of the scene.

US aims sanctions at Sudan after reported chemical weapons use in civil war

Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Daliege, an M109A7 Paladin section chief, left, and driver Pfc. Benjamin Cosby camouflage their mobile artillery system during exercise Combined Resolve at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, on May 20, 2025.

Army’s new drone-driven fighting concept gets mechanized brigade into mix in Germany

Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Daliege’s mobile artillery system was exposed for less than a minute as it darted across a dusty road and into thick forest at the sprawling U.S.-run military training area outside this Bavarian town.

Retired Navy Capt. Mike McGrath, a Vietnam veteran who spent six years in captivity, seen here at his Colorado home on May 14, 2025. McGrath researched a spike in the number of veterans getting prisoner of war benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. He contends that the rise is a result of VA acceptance of claims from impostors, but the agency says its accounting system may create multiple tallies for a person who served during more than one wartime period.

VA’s growing roll of veterans getting POW benefits scrutinized by those once held captive

When the number of former prisoners of war receiving benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs nearly doubled without explanation, an American survivor of the “Hanoi Hilton” wanted answers.

Elevated levels of lead were discovered recently in classroom sinks at Ansbach Elementary School, seen here in September 2018, located in Ansbach, Germany.

Elevated lead levels found in 13 more sinks at DODEA elementary school in Germany

While none of the sinks at Ansbach Elementary School were used for drinking, one from the second round of testing is in a kindergarten food preparation area. The school’s drinking fountains and water-filling stations, which are equipped with high-quality filters, have passed inspection thus far.

Members of the U.S. Army’s 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and NATO partner forces clear a trench at night during training at an undisclosed location in Poland on April 14, 2025.

US special operators due for changes in doctrine and tactical units, top defense official says

The Pentagon is overhauling its special operations doctrine to sharpen key skills and align with the White House’s Indo-Pacific focus, a senior defense official said this week.

Rachel Jacobson, then-assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment, talks about school lunch with one of the students at Ansbach Elementary School in Katterbach, Germany, on Feb. 21, 2024. Elevated levels of lead were recently discovered in the water at four sinks at the school.

DODEA elementary school in Germany replaces faucets as 4 rooms register concerning lead levels

Lead was not found in any of the school’s designated drinking fountains or bottle-filling stations, which are equipped with high-quality filters. Three family housing units at Katterbach Kaserne also registered lead levels above the EPA threshold and had their kitchen faucets replaced.

Shelomo Selinger, a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor, and his wife, Ruth, attend a memorial ceremony April 27, 2025, in Flossenbürg, Germany. Selinger was a prisoner at Flossenbürg concentration camp during World War II, and he returned for the 80th anniversary of the Allied liberation of the camp.

Anniversary event for German WWII camp’s liberation puts pleas for vigilance alongside remembrance

The U.S. Army’s 90th Infantry Division arrived at Flossenbürg concentration camp in Germany on April 23, 1945. Hundreds gathered for a ceremony at the site Sunday that marked the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation.

German filmmakers Kerstin Schmidt, left, and Thilo Pohle answer questions from the audience after screening their World War II documentary "And Now Show that You are One People!" at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach, Germany, on April 25, 2025. The film was shown at the base's Bismarck Movie Theater to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Ansbach's liberation from the Nazis on April 19, 1945.

WWII GIs’ quest to avert leveling of beloved German town comes alive on big screen

A 2020 documentary details the intervention of six American GIs who risked their lives 80 years ago to save Rothenburg ob der Tauber from a planned Allied bombing campaign.

The USS Arizona burns after being struck by Japanese bombs during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941.

DNA collection nears mark needed to exhume USS Arizona unknowns from Hawaii cemetery

A Virginia real estate agent is close to finishing a self-appointed mission aimed at collecting enough DNA to meet the threshold for exhuming dozens of unknown Pearl Harbor victims who were serving aboard the USS Arizona.

A US Army Captain speaks to a group of soldiers who are standing around him.

Full spectrum: Army convenes specialists in Germany for electronic warfare gamut

Dozens of U.S. soldiers specializing in electronic warfare gathered at an Army training ground in Bavaria in recent days, looking to gain mastery of high-tech systems that helped them locate, track and destroy their simulated enemy.

Daymien Abitua, co-captain of Ansbach's boys soccer team, shoots what will be the first of his three goals against Hohenfels' co-ed team in a 6-0 Ansbach win on April 12, 2025, in Ansbach, Germany.

Spangdahlem leaves Bavaria with a pair of victories

Sentinels triumph in boys and girls soccer matches against Ansbach after the Cougars boys open the day with a win over Hohenfels.

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