Detnews.com -- Courage characterized Daniel W. Courneya, who relatives said decided on a military career while still in junior high.

The former Vermontville resident often said how he admired their work, and wanted to perform similar duties "to make a difference," said his grandmother, Martha Petuck. "He wanted to make things better in the world, for everyone. He was always concerned about people."

He enlisted in the Army weeks before graduating from Maple Valley Junior/Senior High School in 2005.

Courneya was deployed to Iraq in August, his grandmother said. His stepfather, Army Spc. David Thompson, had also been serving there and was scheduled to return last weekend.

Born Aug. 30, 1987, in Fresno, Calif., Courneya moved with his mother to Michigan at age 10, later settling in Vermontville, some 30 miles southwest of Lansing.

A sports aficionado who was shooting basketball layups "like you wouldn't believe" at age two, Martha Petuck said, Courneya also played soccer and ran track while in high school.

By fifth grade, he was playing clarinet with the Maplewood Elementary School band.

At Maple Valley Junior/Senior High School he was named first chair, and performed with the band at a festival during the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., in January 2005.

The teen also was a fixture at the band's various fundraisers, where he was "the first one there, the last to leave," said band director Dennis Vanderhoef. "He was always helping."

Over the holidays, during a one-month leave from his Iraqi tour, he married his longtime girlfriend, Jennifer, in a civil ceremony.

The couple had planned to wed in a larger ceremony after Courneya completed his duties, his grandmother said.

"I always called him 'my bright eyes,'" Martha Petuck said. "He was my hero."

Services are pending.