David N. Crombie

Friday, June 09 2006 @ 06:18 AM EDT

www.news.rgj.com -- A 19-year-old Winnemucca soldier was killed Wednesday in Iraq when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee during combat operations, officials said Thursday.

Army Pfc. David N. Crombie, a 2004 graduate of Cibola High School in Yuma, Ariz., was a combat medic in the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, based in Baumholder, Germany.

Family members, notified Thursday, said Crombie had been deployed to Kuwait for about a month and was part of a convoy when he was killed.

Also killed in the explosion in Ar Ramadi was 1st Lt. Scott M. Love, 32, of Knoxville, Tenn.

Crombie's stepfather, Dennis Laybourn, and mother Jennifer Laybourn, both of Winnemucca, said Crombie always wanted to join the military.

"He went for a short time to college at Northern Arizona University, but then he joined the Army after that," Dennis Laybourn said.

"It was just something he wanted to do. He always wanted to join the Army."

He left June 15, 2005, for basic training.

Crombie, a drummer, studied music for one semester at NAU, played the snare drum in his high school marching band and formed several garage bands with friends during his teens.

"I don't know if he really knew what he wanted to do once this Army thing was over," said Dennis Laybourn, who fought back tears as he talked.

An avid hunter since childhood, the soldier sent weekly letters to his mother and stepfather and communicated through e-mail.

Laybourn said Crombie moved to Winnemucca after graduating from high school and lived there for about six months.

The family is planning a memorial service in Yuma. The stepfather said Crombie will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Crombie is also survived by brothers Dan Crombie, 23, of Tucson, Ariz., and Jason Laybourn, 13, of Winnemucca.

He is the 34th Nevadan and the first from Winnemucca killed in the war on terrorism.

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