The Telegraph -- A Granite City man was one of two soldiers killed when their helicopter crashed in Iraq, his grandfather confirmed Saturday.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced late Friday that Sgt. Steven P. Mennemeyer, 26, of Granite City, was killed Tuesday along with Sgt. Jeffery S. Brown, 25, of Trinity Center, Calif., when their UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter crashed into a lake near Rubtbah, Iraq, west of Baghdad.

Mennemeyer was the son of Steven Sylvester Mennemeyer of New Albany, Ind., and Ramona Lynn Phillips of Granite City, his grandfather, Junior Mennemeyer, 72, said Saturday.

Before joining the U.S. Army Reserves and his subsequent active duty, Steven Mennemeyer was employed by Abbott EMS, an ambulance company based in St. Louis with stations in St. Louis, St. Louis County and the Metro East. He worked out of the Belleville station, 25 Royal Heights Centre, and received a five-year service award pin last year, said Larry Stone, vice president of administration for Abbott.

Stone remembered Mennemeyer, who had aspirations of continuing work as an emergency medical technician after he returned to the United States, as an "exemplary medic."

"He had a goal of maybe taking it a step further into physician assistant training," Stone said Saturday. "It was very much in his blood, for sure."

Mennemeyer was assigned to the 82nd Medical Company (Air Ambulance), based in Fort Riley, Kan., said his grandfather, who lives in New Albany.

Steven Mennemeyer lived in Granite City from about age 8 until he enlisted in the service, Junior Mennemeyer said. The Indiana man said he last saw his grandson about three weeks ago when he was on a four-day leave.

The grandfather and grandson had a tradition of fishing at the lake near Junior Mennemeyer’s home.

"When he was four or five years old, we used to go to the lake all by ourselves," he said. "When he was last here, we spent our last day together at the lake."

Mennemeyer joined the Army in August 2002. This was his second deployment to Iraq; his first was with the 1st Armored Division.

The Department of Defense said in a statement that the helicopter crash was not the result of hostile fire.

Four other service members, two from the Army and two from the Navy, were injured in the crash, which military officials say occurred during a routine flight in Anbar province.

Neither of Mennemeyer’s parents could be reached, but Junior Mennemeyer said his son was planning to leave Saturday for Delaware.

A date for the funeral is pending. It will be held at Irwin Chapel, 3960 Maryville Road in Granite City. An Irwin Chapel spokeswoman said Saturday she was not sure which of Irwin’s three locations, two in Granite City and one in Glen Carbon, would be the site of the funeral.

Mennemeyer will be buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in South St. Louis County.