The Mercury News --VISTA -- A Rancho Buena Vista High School graduate died Saturday after a roadside bomb struck his Humvee in Karmah, Iraq, and two Camp Pendleton Marines were killed Sunday in fighting in the Anbar province, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday.

Spc. Jeffrey D. Bisson, 22, who had lived in Vista since he was a toddler, was killed with four other paratroopers with the U.S. Army 3rd Battalion while conducting a mounted patrol in an area about nine miles northeast of Fallujah.

The local Marines, killed in a separate incident Sunday, were Lance Cpl. Andrew G. Matus, 19, of Chetek, Wis., and Lance Cpl. Emilian D. Sanchez, 20, of Santa Ana Pueblo, N.M. The recent deaths bring the number of local Marines killed in Iraq to at least 320.

Bisson, who joined the Army in December 2004, and was on his first tour in Iraq, his family said. He was deployed from Fort Richardson, Alaska, in October and was expected to return home next fall.

His 19-year-old wife, Rebecca, told a reporter by phone Wednesday that she was proud of her husband and his sacrifice.

"My husband served our country and he is a hero in my eyes and he should be a hero in anyone's eyes," Rebecca Bisson said, after arriving at her in-laws home in Vista from Anchorage.

"He was there doing his job," she added. "He was helping less fortunate people, trying to give them the freedom that we have in our country."

Bisson's wife added that her husband was supposed to return to Alaska for leave during the first two weeks of February and that the couple had planned to go on a cruise.

Through tears, Bisson's wife described him as "caring, and loving, and a great husband, and a great father and a really great friend."

In addition to his wife, Bisson is survived by a 3-year-old son, Andrew; parents Laurie and Richard Bisson of Vista; a younger brother, Chris Bisson; grandparents; and friends and family.

Born in Chula Vista, Bison moved to Vista as a toddler.

Once there, he excelled in the Vista Unified School District as an honors student and Eagle Scout, and made many lasting friendships before graduating from Rancho Buena Vista High in 2003, his family said.

"He always set an example and inspired me to achieve more in my life," Bisson's 18-year-old brother, Chris, said. "He was my older brother."

It was also during his high school years, that Bisson discovered a passion for sky diving that would eventually play out in his military service as a paratrooper.

His wife and friends recounted jumps taken together and the thrill Bisson would get from the extreme sport.

"That's all he wanted to do. Every minute he got free, that's what he wanted to do," said Matt Clark, 21, a friend and fellow Ranch Buena Vista classmate, who described their relationship as being "sky diving buddies."

Clark added that while their friendship began as teenagers who were addicted to the challenge of soaring through the sky, it continued beyond their high school aerial adventures and into his days in Iraq. Like many of his Bisson's friends and family members, Clark said he kept in steady contact with the soldier through e-mails and online messaging sites.

"I miss him," Clark said.

Rebecca, who married Bisson last April after meeting him through MySpace, said she spoke with her husband frequently online and by telephone.

"When we talked, we talked about what we wanted to do when he came home, how he was doing, things that would uplift him," she said, noting that recent conversations were about their next sky-dive, the 8-month old black lab he bought to keep his wife company while he was deployed, and whether her belly button had been pierced yet.

"He felt good," Rebecca Bisson added. "... The Army was a way that he could go out and see the world and help people."