Eyewitness News Memphis -- Memphis, TN--- According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Army Specialist Christopher Fox of Memphis was killed by gunfire on September 29, 2008 while on patrol in Adhamiyah, Iraq.

Fox grew up at home on LaPaloma in South Memphis. He was raised by his now deceased mother Nancy, and her boyfriend of nearly 20 years, Randal Hancock. The couple blended their families, raising their five children together for more than a decade.

Fox participated in the ROTC program at Hamilton High School for a few years before joining JobCorp. Fox enlisted in the military in March 2005. Family members say joining the military was Fox’s boyhood dream. Spc. Fox was serving his second tour in Iraq at the time of his death.

Hancock says his family learned about Fox’s death Monday morning. Hancock says military officer say Fox was killed by a sniper’s bullet, with a gunshot wound to the armpit from a sniper’s gun. While this family continues to make sense of their sudden loss, they find comfort knowing Christopher Fox died with honor.

Hancock says, “He was ready. He didn’t want the regular part of army. He wanted infantry. He wanted the exciting part about it, the dangerous part about it.”

Fox’s brother Randal White says, “He did what he loved and for some reason, I feel like that’s what he wanted. If he had to leave he wanted to leave in combat.”

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Commerical appeal --

When notified that his stepson, Army Pfc. Christopher Fox, had been killed in Iraq, Randal Hancock first thought the young soldier was playing a practical joke.

But gradually the news sank in, said Hancock, who helped raised Fox at his South Memphis home with his own children. Fox's mother died three years ago.

"I'm trying to stay strong for the boys," Hancock said. "I'm trying to keep from crying."

"Chris had a lot of love for the Army," Hancock said.

"My father asked was it a joke," said stepbrother Randal White, 26. "I was looking for Chris to jump out and say 'I got you,' but he didn't come out."

Fox, 21, was remembered as a laid-back guy who always wanted to be a soldier and fight for his country.

The stepbrothers communicated through e-mail and hung out on Beale Street when Chris was in town, White said.

Fox, who grew up in Memphis, attended Hamilton High School, where he played football.

Even though he was one of the few white students at Hamilton, he fit right in, White said.

Fox splashed his social networking Web page orange with University of Tennessee logos.

He wanted to enroll at the Knoxville campus next fall and maybe play football, maybe study criminal justice and become a police officer, not letting his military training go to waste, said Amy Frost of Knoxville, identifying herself as his former legal guardian and primary next of kin. She met Fox when teaching at Hamilton.

But early Tuesday morning, she found two men in dress uniforms on her porch.

"When you have two military officers show up on your doorstep at 6 a.m., you pretty much know what's going on," she said.

The former Memphian died Monday after being wounded by small-arms attack in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad after his patrol was ambushed, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Fox has joined the list of 4,178 Americans slain in Operation Iraqi Freedom as of Wednesday morning, according to the Defense Department.

He lived for a time with Frost's family in Knoxville before moving to Fort Carson, Colo., where he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division.

Fox was on his second tour, due to be discharged from the Army in July.

He was in the service for three years, worked as a mortarman and earned awards including the Army Commendation medal, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. Frost said Fox also won a Purple Heart after a device exploded on him a couple of months ago.

He always wanted to be a soldier, she said.

But his MySpace Web page, where he last logged in Friday, reads: "Can't wait to get back to the States."

It was tough, she said. Still, he loved it.

"He loved the people he worked with, comrades in arms. He died over there fighting for something," she said.

She said he will be buried in Knoxville. Funeral services are pending.