Army Spc. Robert E. Hall Jr., 30, of Bellevue, was killed Tuesday in a car bombing in Ad Dujayl, Iraq.

Hall, who was assigned to the Army Reserve's 467th Engineer Battalion in Greenwood, Miss., died guarding the gate at his base, according to Lt. Gary Rabatin, spokesman for the unit.

Rachael's world was turned upside down by the news that her father won't be coming home.

"At this point, she knows that Daddy went to heaven and is watching over her every day," Hall's widow, Tracie, said Thursday night.

"In time, she'll know he was a hero. In her eyes, he always was a hero. He'll always be her hero."

Hall, a 1993 graduate of North Hills High School, joined the Reserve in 1997. He was activated on Sept. 11, 2004, and shipped to Iraq on New Year's Day, his widow said.

"He knew he had to go. He wasn't happy about it. All he wanted to do was do what he had to do and get home. If I could have found a way to keep him home, I would have," Tracie Hall said through sobs.

She said after her husband went overseas, they both quickly accepted the fact that he was doing his duty.

The couple, who met through a mutual friend and married 4 1/2 years ago, had their last conversation Monday.

"He said everything was OK. He couldn't wait to come home. He was like he always was, very laid back, very reserved, very quiet."

Hall adored Rachael.

"He liked video games and movies, but most of all he liked spending time with his daughter. His family was his life," Tracie Hall said.

Hall, who worked for Waste Management in Ambridge, Beaver County, was on Inactive Ready Reserve when he was activated, Rabatin said.

Inactive Ready Reserves are reservists who no longer train but who remain qualified in their fields and can be activated in the event of a national emergency.

Rabatin said the mission of Hall and others in the 467th Engineer Battalion was to keep the roads in Iraq safe.

"Our mission was route clearance in northern Iraq," he said. "Basically, the mission is to drive up and down the roads, looking for improvised explosive devices."

Rabatin said Hall was guarding the entry gate of the unit's forward operating base when a suicide bomber drove up and the car bomb exploded. A second soldier was injured in the blast.

"He went over there and did everything he could to protect everyone," Tracie Hall said. "Unfortunately, he didn't make it back."

His body arrived yesterday at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Rabatin will be among those who accompany it back to Pennsylvania.

Hall also is survived by his mother, Midge Beachem, and her husband, James, of Ross; a brother, Steven, of Ross; and two sisters, Tara Seamon, of Weirton, W.Va., and Lori Unver, of Istanbul, Turkey.