The News Observer -- FREEBURG, PA. - A North Carolina soldier died in Iraq just weeks after returning to the Middle East from leave, his mother said Tuesday.

Pfc. Justin Dreese, 21, served with the 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg. The Pentagon has not released details of Dreese's death.

"He will be sadly missed," Dreese's mother, Kathryn Shaffer, said by phone on Tuesday. "He was my only child."

Shaffer said she last saw her son five weeks ago, before he returned to Fort Bragg and then went overseas. Dreese had been back in Iraq for three weeks when he was killed.

Shaffer described Dreese as an avid hunter and fisherman who made it a point to go fishing with his grandfather when he was home.

"He was a wonderful son. A patriot. Everybody loved him. A good kid," Shaffer said.

The front porch of the home of Dreese's father and stepmother in Freeburg was adorned with a yellow ribbon, and cars packed the driveway Monday, a day after the family learned of his death.

Shaffer was there Tuesday afternoon talking with relatives. Dreese planned to make a career out of the military, Shaffer said.

"He definitely was not afraid to go into battle," she said. "He firmly believed in what he was doing."

Three Camp Lejeune Marines serving in Al Anbar province, Iraq, lost their lives over the weekend, according to the Department of Defense.

Lance Cpl. Cliff K. Golla, 21, of Charlotte, died Friday from wounds received in combat. Lance Cpl. Philip A. Johnson, 19, of Hartford, Conn., and Pvt. Ryan E. Miller, 21, of Gahanna, Ohio, were killed Sunday. All three men were assigned to 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

Also, Cpl. Shannon L. Squires, 25, of Virginia Beach, Va., died Aug. 28, in Brooke Army Medial Center, San Antonio, Texas, of injuries sustained on Apr. 21, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Squires was assigned to the Army's 3rd Battalion, 321 Field Artillery Regiment, 18th Field Artillery Brigade, XVIIIth Airborne Corps Artillery, Fort Bragg.