CumberLink.com -- It was just like Kenneth Zeigler to give up his seat on a flight from Iraq for a fellow soldier.

His older sister, Kimberly Zeigler of York, says her 22-year-old brother yielded his spot for a man who needed to come home for the birth of his first child.

"If somebody needed something, he would do everything in his power to help him," she says.

Pfc. Kenneth Zeigler, who lived in Dillsburg for about a year before joining the Army in March 2004, was killed Thursday when the Humvee he was driving hit a roadside bomb.

He first had been scheduled to be home in time for Mother's Day. His leave was postponed till May 27 when he volunteered to let the new father go home first.

Kimberly Zeigler, who describes her relationship with her brother as "like best friends and brother and sister," last spoke with him on Tuesday. She says they talked about what they would do when he came home.

Sudden enlistment

The soldier was born in Holy Spirit Hospital in East Pennsboro Township and grew up in Halifax. His family lived in Mechanicsburg for a short time before he was born, Kimberly Zeigler says.

His parents are Vicki Zeigler of Hinesville, Ga., and Kenneth Zeigler of Halifax. Also surviving is another sister, Katie Zeigler.

"He was quiet, laid-back," Kimberly Zeigler says. "He liked the heavy metal music" and grew his hair long.

Playing guitar and drawing were two of his favorite hobbies.

Joining the military didn't seem to be in the picture until recently, she says. "I think it was a sudden thing because he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. I think he picked the Army because he had more career opportunities with the military."

Kenneth Zeigler was shipped to Iraq in January and told Kimberly the scene there wasn't as bad as depicted. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, based in Fort Stewart, Ga.

"His unit is devastated," Vicki Zeigler says, adding soldiers captured the insurgents who planted the roadside bomb.

The soldier spoke with his father and sister on Jan. 20, the day before he left for Iraq.

"He told me if he died over there, he'd be happy because he would die doing something he loved," Katie Zeigler says.

Three others were critically injured in that explosion.