Florida Times-Union -- A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in Folkston for Army Sgt. Gene L. Lamie, 25, of Homerville, who died Friday in Iraq.

  Sgt. Lamie was one of three 3rd Infantry Division soldiers killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle, the Defense Department said in a prepared release. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Calvary Regiment of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, the Defense Department said.

Sgt. Lamie will be buried Wednesday with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., said his brother, Georgia National Guard Spc. John Lamie.

"It's a house of heroes,'' John Lamie said of Arlington. "He deserves to be there.''

John Lamie, who also served in Iraq, recalled what his brother had told him after his own squad suffered heavy casualties.

"He told me we were soldiers. We were meant to do what we were doing,'' John Lamie said.

Some people are born to be carpenters, lawyers or preachers, but his brother was born to be a soldier, John Lamie said. "He believed in everything he did. He grew up with a soldier's heart,'' he said.

Sgt. Lamie, who enlisted in the Army before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, came home on leave afterward and told his family he was going to the war with the 1st Cavalry Division, John Lamie said. He later re-enlisted solely to transfer to the 3rd Infantry Division and go back to Iraq, John Lamie said.

His mother, Linda Lamie, said she was proud of her son.

"My son served his country. He was a soldier at heart. His biggest concern was to get the people under him home,'' she said.

Sgt. Lamie loved to hunt and fish and was a big fan of Nextel Cup driver Tony Stewart and the Georgia Bulldogs. He liked to set his 8-month-old son, Gene Benjamin, on his lap and pretend to cast and reel in fish, she said.

Members of the Lamie family moved to Homerville from Folkston a few years ago to shorten the commute to Douglas, where Sgt. Lamie's father, Eugene Lamie, had transferred to another job. Although the family was relatively new to Homerville, the community has rallied around them, John Lamie said.

"Even though we didn't grow up here, this community has wrapped both arms around us, overwhelmed us with love and support,'' he said.

There has been an equal outpouring of sympathy and affection in Folkston, where his family lived for years and where his maternal grandmother and other family members still live, John Lamie said.

Linda Lamie asked for continued prayers for the family and for those still serving in Iraq.

"I will pray every day until every soldier comes home,'' she said.

In addition to his mother and brother, Sgt. Lamie is survived by his wife, Dara Lamie of Fort Stewart; a 3-year-old daughter, Lyrean; and a son, Gene Benjamin.

He is also survived by his father, Eugene M. Lamie of Homerville; a sister, Christy Bell of Douglas; fraternal grandparents, Eugene F. and Elsie Lamie of Homerville; and maternal grandmother, Della Taylor of Folkston.

He is preceded in death by his maternal grandfather, Bud Taylor of Folkston.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at Shepard Funeral Home, 600 Oak St., Folkston. The Saturday memorial service will also be held at the Shepard Funeral Home.