Scott M. Bandhold

Monday, April 17 2006 @ 02:08 AM EDT

www.newsday.com -- A North Merrick man who traveled the world as an entertainer and then joined the Army relatively late in life was killed April 12 in Iraq, Pentagon officials said Friday.

Spc. Scott M. Bandhold, 37, died when a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee in Misiab, officials said. A second soldier was killed and two others wounded.

Joe Bandhold, 52, a sergeant first class in the New York Army National Guard, said Friday his brother was driving an officer to a meeting.

He said the device was a "shaped charge," a weapon often used by Iraqi insurgents to target armored vehicles, and soldiers captured the bomber.

For Bandhold's far-flung family, the death was the second major tragedy in less than a year. In July, Joy Bandhold, Scott's mother, passed away from emphysema.

In Florida, upstate New York, and Virginia, Bandhold's relatives remembered Scott as a gregarious, upbeat man with wide interests and passions.

"He was a really happy, optimistic, positive person," said his father, Hank Bandhold, 72, of Florida. "Even when things were hard, the sky was always blue and the sun was always shining."

Brother Don Bandhold, 50, of Leesburg, Va., echoed that thought, and added haltingly, "I wish I could have gotten to know him better. He's my hero."

"He could talk a starving pig off a garbage truck," Joe Bandhold of upstate Morrisonville said of his brother. "He was like this dancing, war guy. It was a little strange, but he made it work."

Bandhold already showed promise as a performer at age 7, said his dance teacher, Donna Carbone-Schaeffer, who runs the Dance Arts Studio on Merrick Avenue. He trained diligently through school, and remained involved in the studio. "Even after he stopped dancing, he still kept in touch," she said.

After graduating from Calhoun High School, Bandhold entered show business. He worked at Walt Disney World, then moved on to cruise ships and corporate events. Finally he took a job at a casino in Estoril, Portugal, where he met his future wife.

They married in 1995 and had two children, Mariana, now 10, and Afonzo, now 9. The couple divorced in 2001.

At age 34, Bandhold joined the Army after he realized bad knees would prevent him from continuing in show business. He had worked as a collection agent for a while, but had had a hard time finding a job that he liked. He yearned for more financial stability.

Bandhold was also inspired by the Sept. 11 attacks. In a posting on a high school alumni Web site, he described how while in Portugal after the divorce, he watched the World Trade Center building fall.

"In what seemed like slow motion, I watched as our Twin Towers crumbled to the ground," he wrote. "I had to wait two years before I could join (divorce, legal fees, etc.) the Army ... I deploy in October."

While he sometimes groused about the desert and the heat, Bandhold was still supportive of the war. "He was a patriot," Joe Bandhold said. "He even re-enlisted in Iraq and begged my wife not to tell me."

Don Bandhold spoke with his brother by phone two days before he died. "I'd mailed him a box with candy and cookies in it, and I told him what was in it," he said. "I told him I loved him."

Funeral arrangements were not yet finalized Friday.

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