Ledger-Enquirer -- Shelly Korpieski remembers the last time she saw her former University of Georgia cheerleader teammate, Noah Harris.

"Last fall's homecoming game, Noah was sitting with the alumni cheerleaders," said Korpieski Monday from her office at UGA, where she is now the cheerleader coach.

"He told me that day he'd received orders to Iraq. And I told him to be careful. I never thought it would be the last time I'd see him."

The Pentagon said Monday that 1st Lt. Noah Harris, 23, of Ellijay, Ga., and Cpl. William A. Long, 26, of Lilburn, Ga., died Saturday from injuries sustained on June 17 in Buritz, Iraq, when they were conducting a mounted patrol and their Humvee was attacked by enemy forces using rocket-propelled grenades.

Both soldiers were assigned to the Army's 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning.

The deaths bring to nine the total of Fort Benning soldiers killed in Iraq since February, including eight from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

Rick and Lucy Harris were notified of their son's death Sunday.

Harris' family said that a memorial service at Fort Benning will be held for the 2003 University of Georgia graduate on Friday. A second service will be conducted at the First United Church of Ellijay on Saturday, which would have been Harris' 24th birthday.

Well-rounded athlete

Harris was an outstanding athlete during his high school days at Gilmer County High School, winning the state 189-pound wrestling championship in 1999, being elected captain and most valuable player of his football team, and later being named the state's Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1999.

"He came here as a freshman and made the football cheer squad," said Korpieski. "That's very rare. But he was a great athlete, the kind of guy that could do it all. He was passionate about everything in his life."

Al Summers did play-by-play of Gilmer County football during Harris' years on the football team.

"I've known him since he was a boy playing in the youth leagues," said Summers, who announced for WLJA-AM in Ellijay. "And I've known his family all through the years. I'll tell you this about Noah: Everything that's good about humanity is embodied in him. If you have a son, you want him to grow up to be just like Noah."

He caught the acting bug as a freshman in high school, becoming an International Honor Thespian and landing key roles in such plays as "The Importance of Being Earnest," "Heaven Can Wait" and "The Miracle."

He also studied at the famed Alliance Theater in Atlanta.

Harris earned a bachelor's degree from the Terry College of Business and had begun a program through which UGA students became pen pals with soldiers in his platoon.

Rick Harris told the AP his son decided upon joining the Army after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Rick Harris said his son told him, "People must serve some higher purpose than yourself in life."