WHDH.com -- BOSTON -- A 21-year-old Marine reservist from Seekonk who had been studying engineering at the University of Massachusetts has been killed in Iraq, military officials announced Tuesday.

Lance Cpl. Eric P. Valdepenas died Monday when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in the Al Anbar province of Fallujah in Iraq, according to the Defense Department. Two other servicemen were killed in the attack.

Valdepenas was a machine gunner in the 1st Battalion 25th Marines reserve unit, based in Devens, Mass., the Marine Corps said. The unit, activated in December 2005, is scheduled to return home next month.

Valdepenas had received numerous honors, including a purple heart, the Marine Corps said.

Valdepenas graduated from Bishop Hendricken in Warwick, R.I., and was a full-time engineering student at UMass-Amherst before his unit was called up.