Lexington Herald-Leader -- ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. - A Kentucky native was one of three Marines killed in an explosion in Iraq this week.

Pfc. Christopher N. White, 23, of Southport, N.C., was killed Tuesday in Al-Anbar Province, Iraq, the Department of Defense said on Thursday.

White graduated from Central Hardin High School in 2001.

"The love he had for all of us was so strong that he gave the ultimate doing what he believed was right," said White's brother, Mike. "Chris White will live on in all of us in some way, but to me he was the greatest brother one could ever have."

White's parents, William and Galia, owned a farm in Hardin County where Chris grew up.

"Christopher was a good kid," William White said. "Everybody liked him. He was just a likeable guy."

His friends said they remember an athletic guy who got into weightlifting in high school, and played football for a short time.

"He never met a stranger," said Josh Garcia, who went to high school with White. "Everybody knew Chris White."

He followed his father, who retired from the Army, into military service, but his brother said he dreamed of becoming a Marine.

"He talked about it all his life," Mike White said.

White joined the Marines in May 2005. Assigned to the 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif., he deployed to Iraq in January.

White, a machine gunner, and four other Marines were riding in the last Humvee in a convoy when a roadside bomb exploded, William White said. White and two other Marines were killed in the blast.

Mike White said his brother had plans to wed his girlfriend once he returned home from the war.

"He was going to get married the day he came back," Mike White said. "He only had a month and half left."

A memorial service will held in St. Louis, the family said.