Belleville News Democrat -- BELLEVILLE -- Ja'Mel A. Bryant, 22, always said he was his "momma's soldier," and to his family, he was also a messenger of the importance of family, love and loyalty.

Bryant's family said he delivered that message every day until he died Saturday after a vehicle accident while he was on patrol in Wahida, Iraq.

U.S. Army Private First Class Bryant was part of the 40th Engineer Battalion in the 1st Armored Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team in Baumholder, Germany. He left for Iraq in April and returned briefly to the United States in June before resuming his tour in Iraq. Bryant's family said they do not know details of Bryant's death because the Defense Department is still investigating the accident.

Bryant, who started a music career in Belleville, joined the Army in 2006 because he wanted to change his life for the better.

"He wanted to be a better man," Bryant's mom, Cecilia Eiland, said. "And he already was. He was very respectful to everyone. He didn't care who they were or where they were from. He was better than gold. As much as he was about love, he joined to help, not to hurt.

"He told me that if I lost 20 pounds in two months, that we will go to The Price is Right and he'll take me to Paris," she added. "And I was working on that 20 pounds. I sure was cause I wanted to go to Paris."

Cecilia Eiland said she called her son every Sunday after church when he was in Germany.

"When he called, for some reason, mom's voice would change to a higher pitch," his brother Antonio "TJ" Bryant Jr. said. "I would be downstairs and know that it was Ja'Mel on the phone."

"And he never hangs up the phone," added Bryant's fiancee, Rochelle Jumper, who was in the same unit as Bryant and met him in February 2007. "He didn't allow goodbyes."

Bryant loved his music and he loved children, and often passed candy out to children in Iraq, Antonio said: "He was always trying to be a mentor to another child."

Bryant taught himself how to play the piano and recently produced a rap song with friends in Iraq about the troubles he had growing up in order to help other children.

One time, the family was at an opera when Bryant saw a little boy making a fuss and decided to talk him out of it.

"He talked to the little boy and told him that he used to be like that," Bryant's grandmother, Barbara Eiland, said. "The little boy apologized and the mother turned around and thanked Ja'Mel. We didn't even know those people."

He wanted to go to school for engineering or for music after the army.

"He could fix anything," Antonio said. "His room was his laboratory where he fixed things."

Principal Robert S. Dahm said Bryant was a student at Belleville West High School.

"He was unassuming, quiet," Dahm said. "A good student, a good citizen. The kind of young man you're glad to have at your school. I'm sad for his family, sad for our community. My interactions with him were positive and it's a shame any time we lose a young person."

Dahm said that the school will recognize Bryant with a moment of silence today.

Bryant is survived by his mother, Cecilia Eiland, of Belleville; his father, Antonio Bryant Sr., of Cahokia; his brother, Antonio Bryant Jr., of Belleville; his grandmother, Barbara Eiland, of Fairview Heights; and his fiancee, Rochelle Jumper, of Redding, Calif.