Macon Telegraph -- SUMTER, S.C. - A soldier with ties to Sumter, Greenville and Easley was killed earlier this week during a roadside bombing in Baghdad, according to the Defense Department.

Army Sgt. Anthony Jones, 25, died Tuesday when an explosive detonated near his vehicle as he traveled in a convoy, the Defense Department said.

Jones was assigned to the 104th Transportation Company, 36th Engineer Group, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanism), at Fort Benning, Ga., the Defense Department reported. He was on his third tour in Iraq.

He leaves behind a wife, Kelly, 25, and two sons, 2-year-old Blair, and 1-month-old Aaron.

"Foremost, he was a soldier, and a great one," Kelly Jones said. "He was the best family man you can imagine. He was a hunter, and a fisherman and a hopeless romantic."

Jones came home for two weeks last month for the birth of his second son, arriving just a few hours after Aaron was born, Kelly Jones said.

"He made it home," she said. "He was able to see his children, and see his wife before it all happened. He got to hold him and tell him how much he loved him."

Jones joined the Army after high school, following a family tradition of military service, and hoped to become a Ranger, his family said. He was on his third tour in Iraq.

"He said the chances of coming back alive after three tours are almost nil, so he must have had a premonition he wouldn't make it," said Jones' grandmother, Ima Lee Jones.

Before Jones left for Iraq the first time, he wrote letters to a then unborn Blair, just in case he didn't make it home, Kelly said.

"If your daddy doesn't come home, I'll always be in your life," the letter read. "I want to be right there to help you."

Jones grew up in Sumter, attending Thomas Sumter Academy through the sixth grade, and lived in Greenville and Easley between 1998 and 2000.

Jones' uncle, Ron Jones, said his nephew was a sensitive man who knew right from wrong, loved to hunt and fish, and always helped around the house. The biggest tragedy of Jones' death is that his two young sons will never know their father, Ron Jones said.

Kelly is going through photo albums and planning a video to help Blair and Aaron remember their dad as they grow up.

"I want them to know that he was a man and he took care of mommy and took care of them, and when the Army called he went and he didn't complain. I've got to make sure the boys, they never forget their daddy," she said.

"I hope the boys are just like him."