"He was fine," said Mrs. Morin of Brownfield, Texas. "He could only talk for 30 minutes."

Sgt. Steve Morin Jr., 34, of Arlington died Wednesday west of Umm Qasr, Iraq, when an explosive device detonated, overturning the Humvee he was riding in. Sgt. Morin had been assigned to the Army National Guard's 111th Engineer Battalion, 36th Infantry Division, in Mineral Wells.

Services are pending at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Brownfield, family members said. Sgt. Morin will be buried with full military honors.

After graduating from Brownfield High School in 1988, Sgt. Morin enlisted in the Navy, serving for 14 years and specializing in aviation electronics.

He attended Texas Tech University, where he earned bachelor's degrees in business and financial economics in 2000.

Sgt. Morin enlisted in the National Guard in October 2003 and was deployed to Iraq on Jan. 6.

His wife, Gwendolyn Morin of Arlington, said she supported her husband's decision to go.

"He felt like that was where he needed to be," she said. "He was doing it out of loyalty for his country."

The couple married on Feb 5, 1999. They had two children, Brianna, 12, and Esteban, 6. She said her husband enjoyed fishing, wrestling and reading to his children.

"He read The New York Times and Newsweek to our son when he was only a year old," Ms. Morin said. "Esteban just sat there and listened to his father's voice."

She said Esteban knew that his father was at war "fighting the bad guys."

"They always talked about it," she said. "They kept that line of communication open."

As a young boy, Sgt. Morin was in the Boy Scouts and received various awards. He played baseball in high school and was an altar boy, said his father, Steve Morin Sr.

"He was very committed to the church and had a firm belief in God," Mr. Morin said.

His mother said her son's strong faith in God sustained him in Iraq.

"He was supposed to come home in 60 days," she said Thursday night. "I will miss him very much, but now he is with God, in peace."

In addition to his parents, wife and children, Sgt. Morin is survived by brother Javier Morin of Lubbock and sister Leticia Morin of Orange, Calif.