Seattle post-Intelligencer -- LITTLE ROCK -- A memorial service is planned Thursday at Fort Lewis, Wash., to honor a Jacksonville, Ark., soldier and two other members of his brigade killed in Iraq.

Spc. Tyler Loren Creamean, 21, and two other Stryker Brigade soldiers died Sunday. Creamean and Lt. Aaron Seesan of Massillon, Ohio, were killed by a roadside bomb near their vehicle. Sgt. Benjamin Morton of Wright, Kan., was killed when his patrol came under attack.

Creamean's mother, Rebecca Callaway-Hout of Jacksonville, said her son was about to re-enlist in the Army so his soldier wife would not be alone in Iraq.

"He loved people from all walks of life," Callaway-Hout said. "Even at the end, his colonel said he was yelling for the medics for the other guy."

Creamean was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and attended school in Jacksonville. He married on Feb. 24, his 21st birthday, and wanted to re-enlist because his wife, Kemisha, stationed at Fort Sill, Okla., was bound for Iraq.

His mother said a program called Youth Challenge, aimed at helping high-school dropouts and those at risk of dropping out, helped change her son's life. In the 22-week program, sponsored by the Arkansas National Guard, Creamean gained an interest in the military.

Before deploying to Mosul, Iraq, in October, Creamean was based at Fort Lewis. It was there that his aunt, Rochelle Hughes, last saw him in August.

"He was wonderful, very caring, giving, very lighthearted person," Hughes said. She recalled him winning the Spirit Award - "for being so uplifting" - when he graduated from Youth Challenge.

In addition to his wife, mother and aunt, Creamean is survived by his father, Troy Creamean of Corpus Christi, Texas; his 3-year-old stepson; a stepsister and a stepbrother.

Creamean will be buried in Rising Star, Texas.