Military City -- NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. — A member of the Air Force from Westmoreland County died Thursday in Iraq after he was wounded in the explosion of an improvised device, the Defense Department said Friday.

Staff Sgt. David A. Wieger, 28, of North Huntingdon, was one of three Americans who died in the attack near Balad Air Base. Also killed were Air Force Master Sgt. Thomas A. Crowell, 36, of Neosho, Mo., and Nathan J. Schuldheiss, 27, an Air Force civilian from Newport, R.I.

Wieger was assigned to Detachment 303, Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Schuldheiss was assigned to Detachment 204, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and Crowell was assigned to Detachment 301, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. All three were special agents to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

A 1997 graduate of Norwin High School, Wieger joined the Air Force about eight years ago, friends said. He left for Iraq last summer.

“He loved it,” a friend, Kevin Martin of Norvelt, said of Wieger’s service in Iraq. “He was having the time of his life.”

“He was really enjoying what he was doing,” Art Leddon told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “He saw himself as making a difference in Iraq.”

==Another news story==

Pittsburgh Post- Gazette -- Don Kattic is a veteran of the Korean War, where he saw a number of his friends killed or injured.

"I've been through it all in Korea," said Mr. Kattic, commander of the North Huntingdon-Irwin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 781. "You just get a tear in your eye and you pray."

Mr. Kattic, a retired history and social studies teacher at Norwin High School, found out about 15 months ago that Staff Sgt. David Wieger, of North Huntingdon, had died in Balad, Iraq.

Sgt. Wieger and two other soldiers were killed while riding in a Humvee destroyed by an improvised explosive device Nov. 1, 2007.

"We just felt we had to do something more," said Mr. Kattic, who had never met Sgt. Wieger, a 1997 Norwin High School graduate who earned a criminal justice degree from Westmoreland County Community College before enlisting in the Air Force in 1999.

The question was what?

Sgt. Wieger was 28 when he was killed. He was with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

In the two months he had been in Iraq, Sgt. Wieger -- who was assigned to Travis Air Force Base in California -- had helped to capture 20 insurgents.

Sgt. Wieger was awarded posthumously the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Air Force Combat Action Medal.

By talking with North Huntingdon community leaders, Mr. Kattic said he learned Sgt. Wieger had been a soccer enthusiast and was once the captain of the Norwin varsity team.

That's when he went to township officials and local business leaders.

Mr. Kattic is now trying to raise $4,000 to have a black marble plaque with an etching of Sgt. Wieger in his uniform made. It would be placed at one of the fields in the Oak Hollow Park Soccer Complex on Timothy Road.

John Ott, owner of Joseph F. Ott Funeral Home in North Huntingdon, will arrange to have the memorial plaque made, Mr. Kattic said.

Sgt. Wieger's father, Michael, said he is touched by the community's efforts to honor his son.

"Our son was involved in soccer since he was 6 years old," Mr. Wieger said. "This memorial shows people in this community think about other people."

Mr. Kattic said an account has been set up at S&T Bank on Route 30 in North Huntingdon to help fund the memorial. While there is no deadline to raise the money, Mr. Kattic said he would like to have the plaque in place by spring.

"I think the Wiegers are elated their son has not been forgotten," Mr. Kattic said.