Des Moines Register -- U.S. Army Spc. Chad Groepper, a friendly, patriotic young man who enlisted in the military just 12 days after graduating from high school in northwest Iowa, has been killed in combat in Iraq.

Groepper, 21, of Kingsley died Sunday morning in Diyala province as a result of wounds from small-arms fire, family members said Monday. He had served in Iraq since last spring with an Army unit from Fort Lewis, Wash.

Kingsley Mayor Wayne Plendl said Monday that his rural community of 1,200 people was in mourning after learning of the soldier's death.

Groepper had worked one summer for a local farming partnership, and he had been employed at a Kingsley plumbing shop.

"This has really hit our town hard," Plendl said. "We are pretty close and everybody knew this young man well. It's just a tragic thing."

Kingsley is in Plymouth County, about 25 miles northeast of Sioux City.

Groepper leaves behind a wife, Stephanie, and a four-month-old daughter, Clarissa, who was born four weeks before he came home on leave late last year.

His unit had been scheduled to return to the United States sometime between mid-May and July.

"We had just been counting the days until he came home," his mother, Darcy Groepper, said Monday.

She and her husband, David, were notified of their only son's death Sunday by two soldiers who came to their rural Kingsley home.

Groepper had two sisters: Denae, 26, of Granger and Abbie, 24, of Kingsley.

The Department of Defense on Monday had not yet officially announced his death.

Groepper was the 65th person with Iowa ties to die in Iraq or Afghanistan since March 2003, records show.

He graduated from Kingsley-Pierson High School at midterm during the 2004-05 school year, said retired Principal Randy Wiese.

Groepper went out for the football team his senior year, played defense and had a lot of fun, Wiese recalled.

"One of his big goals was to be in the Army. I know he served his country well. We feel a lot of remorse for the family, but I know that is what he always wanted to do," Wiese said.

Groepper's family described him as having a warm personality and as someone who was a bit of a daredevil.

Groepper's sister Denae, 26, of Granger, Iowa, remembers her kid brother as "a natural daredevil."

"A dirt bike, a four-wheeler, it didn't matter," she said. "Chad loved them all."

"He said they helped him to relax," Denae said with a laugh.

But more than his dirt bike or four-wheeler, she said, her brother loved the military.

"Chad always said he wanted to enlist," Denae recalled.

"He loved working on cars, snowboarding, riding four-wheelers, anything that was high energy," recalled his sister, Denae Groepper.

During high school, Groepper talked about embarking on various careers, but he always returned to the idea of joining the Army.

"I think he wanted to protect his family and to ensure freedom," Denae Groepper said. Funeral arrangements for Groepper are pending.