The Daily Light --MIDLOTHIAN — A North Texas soldier with family in Midlothian died late Christmas Day while serving in Iraq.

Spec. Aaron Lee Preston, 29, of Preston Hollow died about 11:45 p.m. Dec. 25 on a street in Baghdad. Preston was the brother of Mariah Coward of Midlothian. Funeral plans are incomplete, but the family has made tentative plans to have Preston’s funeral in Midlothian sometime next week.

"He had eight more months and then he would have been out," said Noel Coward, of Midlothian, Preston’s brother-in-law. "He was with the Army Corps of Engineers and when they found a bomb, they were the one they called on to go out and defuse it. He had been in the service for three years and in Iraq for six months."

The Department of Defense said Wednesday an explosive detonated near Preston’s vehicle. The bomb also killed Sgt. John T. Bubeck of Collegeville, Penn., and Pfc. Andrew H. Nelson of St. John, Mich. The trio’s death was part of a resurgence of violence that saw three major bombings on the same day.

Preston was assigned to the 9th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division in Schweinfurt, Germany.

Coward said Preston had spent much of his time in Germany training for work in Iraq. He had also been stationed for a time in Kuwait. "He had gone to college at San Marcos (Texas State University) and had studied engineering," Coward said. "He got into the Army because he wanted to work in the oil field or mining business with explosives and the military is the only place you can get that kind of training.

"He was older than most of the guys over there who are in their early 20s" said Coward. "He told us the guys in his unit called him Pop."

Coward said he got an e-mail from Preston on Dec. 23 and he seemed in good spirits but complained of being overworked and understaffed. "I’ve got a stack of e-mails where he said they needed to triple the number of troops, crack down on the violence and end this thing," said Coward. "I knew no finer man than Aaron and his family was very proud of him — I’m very proud of him. We’re just shocked that this happened over the holidays and we’re grieving."

Coward said Preston’s grandfather was a Marine in World War II and was on Iwo Jima’s Mt. Suribachi and saw the raising of the American Flag that was photographed and became one of the most famous pictures of World War II. Coward said Preston and his grandfather wrote to each other often.

Preston was not married. Coward said details of Preston’s funeral have not been finalized.

"He did tell us that he wanted to be buried in the National Cemetery in Dallas if anything happened," said Coward. "We are planning for services to be in Midlothian. They told us it will take five to seven days to get his personal items in order and processed out of Dover (Del.). Then he will come home to us."

Coward said the community and military are already reaching out to his wife and Preston’s family. "We urge people to continue to support the troops no matter how you feel about the war or the politics," said Coward. "Those guys are working their butts off over there and we don’t need to make them feel like they have been forgotten."