The Commercial Dispatch -- STARKVILLE - A Starkville native was killed in Iraq Monday. U.S. Army Spec. Taylor McDavid, 29, a tank operator with the Army's 1-64th Armored Division, 3rd Infantry, died when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a Sunni Mansour neighborhood in Baghdad.

Four other U.S. soldiers were killed in the blast, while three American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were injured.

McDavid was the son of Robert and Jean Alice McDavid of Starkville and was married to Tiffany Thornhill of Starkville - the two were set to celebrate their second wedding anniversary in May.

McDavid had been deployed to Iraq for 10 months and was due to return to the U.S. in July, his father told The Starkville Daily News. He was in the middle of a five-year Army enlistment.

The soldiers were killed while on foot patrol in a vibrant Shiite commercial district, The Associated Press reported. And the blast - the deadliest attack on U.S. soldiers in more than eight months - also killed scores of civilians.

Over the past six months as the military has been placing U.S. bases inside neighborhoods and has soldiers out of their armored vehicles, the Americans' vulnerability to attacks has increased. While the face-to-face contact from foot patrols builds goodwill, it also gives suicide bombers, who often slip past security vehicle checkpoints by walking, better access to striking soldiers.

On Monday, the soldiers were walking in a shopping district of the predominantly Sunni Mansour neighborhood when a man in his 30s detonated his explosives about 30 feet away, said a police officer who witnessed the attack. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the media.

“This was his regular patrol,” said Robert McDavid, who communicated often with his son via telephone or e-mail, adding his son was trained as tank-operator, but in Baghdad was driving a Humvee, and this was not the first time he'd been attacked.

“He'd been shot at before,” said Robert McDavid this morning, adding his son described Iraq as a “hell hole.”

“He didn't understand how people lived in that situation,” remarked Robert McDavid, noting that his son admired the work he was able to do and did it well, but on the other hand, was not one to “sugarcoat it.”

“But he was a good soldier and he was doing his duty.”

Taylor McDavid attended both Starkville High School and Starkville Academy. He earned his GED when he was 16 and later enrolled at Northeast Mississippi Community College, where he was a member of the band and made the dean's list.

He went on to Mississippi State University to study accounting and business administration and played the tuba in the Famous Maroon Band.

“He worked every day, paying his own way through college,” recalled Robert McDavid, who noted the last time his son visited the family in Starkville was this past October. “He worked sometimes eight or ten hours a day. And then one day he said ‘Daddy, I think I'm going to join the Army, so that when I get out, I go to school and have it paid for.'” Robert Taylor was about a year away from graduation.

In addition to his wife and parents, Taylor McDavid had a sister, Leslie, and two nieces, Elizabeth and Ellen whom he “loved very much,” his father said. His grandparents were the late Judge R.L. and Annie Mae McDavid and the late Charles Lee and Billie Jean Walker.

The attack Monday was the deadliest attack against the U.S. military since Jan. 28, when five soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul. As the Iraq War approaches its five-year anniversary this month, 3,983 U.S. soldiers have been reported killed and thousands more injured.

==Another story==

Taylor McDavid and the other soldiers had just gotten out of a humvee to begin a foot patrol in the neighborhood when the bombing occurred, said his father, Robert McDavid, who was notified of his son's death early Monday evening.

The bomber was about 30 feet away from the soldiers when he detonated his explosives, a Baghdad police officer who witnessed the attack told reporters.

Taylor McDavid had been deployed to Iraq for 10 months and was due to return to the U.S. in July, his father said. His son was in the middle of a five-year Army enlistment, Robert McDavid said.

"He did what he wanted to do, and that's serve his country," said Robert McDavid Monday night. "He made me and his granddaddy so proud."

Taylor's wife, the former Tiffany Thornhill of Starkville, is in Fort Stewart, Ga., where her husband's unit is headquartered. Taylor and Tiffany McDavid were to celebrate their second wedding anniversary May 19 and her 30th birthday two weeks earlier.

"He was a terrific soldier, and he died doing what he loved, defending our freedom," said Tiffany McDavid by telephone from Fort Stewart Monday night.

The son of Robert and Jean Alice McDavid of Starkville, Taylor McDavid attended both Starkville High School and Starkville Academy and had received an associate's degree from Northeast Mississippi Community College, where he was a member of the band and a Dean's List scholar.

He had been a student studying accounting and general business administration at Mississippi State University, where he played tuba in the Famous Maroon Band.

He was a third generation past master of the Abert Lodge No. 89, a fourth generation Master Mason, a Shriner and a member of the Corinth Scottish Rite.

In addition to his wife and parents, Taylor McDavid had a sister, Leslie, and two nieces, Elizabeth and Ellen, he "loved very much," his father said. His grandparents were the late Judge R.L. and Annie Mae McDavid and the late Charles Lee and Billie Jean Walker.

Because of the number of deaths involved in Monday's suicide bombings, the Army informed the McDavid family that it may take several days before Taylor McDavid's body is returned to the U.S.

Funeral arrangements for Taylor McDavid will be announced once they become available."

==Another story==

His son, Spc. Taylor McDavid, 29, was one of eight U.S. soldiers killed Monday in Iraq.

"He was just a man," Robert McDavid said Tuesday through tears. "A real man."

Taylor McDavid served with the Army's 164th Armored Division, 3rd Infantry and had been in Iraq about 10 months.

He and four other soldiers, whose names have not been released, were on foot patrol in central Baghdad when a suicide bomber detonated explosives about 30 feet away from them.

Four soldiers died at the scene of the suicide bomber attack, and a fifth died later from wounds. Whether McDavid died at the scene was not known.

Three other American soldiers, two Iraqi civilians and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded in the suicide attack.

Three more American soldiers were killed Monday in a separate attack - a roadside bombing - north of Baghdad in Diyala.

Taylor McDavid was proud of being in the military and took his job as a soldier seriously, his father said.

He wanted to be in Iraq, his father said.

Taylor McDavid's 29-year-old wife, Tiffany, was en route to Starkville from the couple's Fort Stewart, Ga., home Tuesday and could not be reached.

The couple was to celebrate their second wedding anniversary in May.

They could not have children of their own, so Taylor McDavid was especially fond of his two young nieces, Ellen and Elizabeth, said his aunt, Alice McDavid.

When he had free time, he enjoyed being involved in civic organizations, his aunt said. He was also an avid outdoorsman.

He was a fourth-generation Master Mason, which is a high rank in the Freemasons fraternal order, his father said.

He might have been one of the youngest Master Masons in the state, Robert McDavid said.

Taylor McDavid loved his family and was a proud man with values, his father said. "Life was precious to him," he said.

His family is grieving but also proud of him for serving in the military, Robert McDavid said.

Taylor McDavid's late grandfather was a veteran and a Mason himself.

"He made his granddaddy proud," Robert McDavid said.

Funeral arrangements have not been made.

Taylor McDavid's body is expected to arrive at Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C., in the next five days and will come to Starkville later, his aunt said.

She tells families of those serving in the military to "pray hard. Keep your families close."