Army Sgt. David B. Parson joined the Marines about a year after high school graduation, then left after four years to move closer to his mother and stepfather. He worked for a time doing maintenance work on planes owned by NASCAR drivers.

But he found he preferred a more regimented life and joined the Army, said stepfather Bill Whitlow. The family shipped out to his base in Germany in February, and Parson left for Iraq on Mother's Day.

Parson, 30, of Kannapolis, N.C., died July 6, 2003, under hostile fire while conducting a raid in Baghdad.

Parson would have been married six years on July 17. He and his wife, Mary "Emmy," 23, have three children, ages 1 to 4.