Kenneth M. Cross

Wednesday, August 30 2006 @ 04:48 AM EDT

The News Tribune -- A local Stryker brigade soldier based in Iraq's capital city was killed in a roadside bomb explosion Sunday, according to family members.

Army Cpl. Kenneth Cross, 21, of Parkland, Wis., was a driver on one of the eight-wheeled Stryker vehicles. The Department of Defense had released no information on Cross' death by Tuesday morning. His parents said Cross was the type of person who knew what he wanted in life.

“He was a fun kid — always smiling, laughing, joking — you never knew what he was going to do,” father Michael Cross told The Daily Telegram in Superior, Wis.

Mother Elizabeth Cross said her son dropped out of high school and earned his general education diploma because he wanted to go right into the service. She also said her son loved children and wanted to be a soldier since he was a small boy.

“He was up to mischief most of the time,” she said.

He met his wife, Heidi of Steilacoom, Wash., through an online dating service and the two were friends for a time before deciding to get married quickly after they began dating.

“He was always doing something goofy to make me laugh even on the bad days,” Heidi Cross said. “He treated me like a queen and an angel. I don’t think we ever had a bad moment.”

She also said she spoke to her husband two hours before his death. “People say I’m pretty lucky to have talked to him right before it happened,” she said, grateful she was able to tell him she loved him, “I don’t know how many times.”

His mother admitted she was afraid of her son going to Iraq.

“I told when he went over there it took me nine months to put him together perfectly, and there better not be any more holes in him than when he left,” Elizabeth Cross said. “He didn’t listen.”

Cross' death came one week after the Fort Lewis-based brigade had its first casualty since returning to Iraq this summer. Sgt. Gabriel G. DeRoo was killed Aug. 20 by small-arms fire in Mosul. A memorial service for him was held Monday at Fort Lewis.

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