Journal Gazette -- The parents of a Marine from North Manchester said Monday that their son died in Iraq on Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded under the military vehicle he was riding in.

Lance Cpl. Scott Zubowski, 20, and another Marine died when the bomb exploded during combat near Fallujah in Iraq’s Al Anbar province, said his mother, Barbara Weitzel.

Zubowski was a rear passenger in the military vehicle when the bomb exploded, critically injuring a third Marine and slightly injuring two others, she said.

Barbara Weitzel said she and Scott’s stepfather, who live near New Castle, last spoke to Scott about two weeks ago.

“He was the same wonderful kid he always was,” she told the Courier-Times on Monday morning. “He was just a great kid.”

Zubowski was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. His first tour ran from February to October 2004. He returned to Iraq in July and was set to come back before his 21st birthday in March, his father, Rick Zubowski, said Monday evening from his home in North Manchester.

His son was assigned to an infantry unit that was charged with stopping armored infantry, Rick Zubowski said. He was supposed to be stationed near the Syrian border.

His brother, David, is a Marine serving in another area of Iraq and is expected to be back in Indiana today for the funeral. Rick Zubowski said he expected to know more about funeral arrangements this week. Scott Zubowski’s widow, Clancy, was working with the Marines at Grissom Air Reserve base in Kokomo to arrange the funeral, Rick Zubowski said.

On Monday, flags were lowered to half-staff around North Manchester, including at Manchester High School from which Scott Zubowski graduated in 2003. His teachers remembered him as a very bright young man and encouraged him to apply to one of the service academies, Manchester Community Schools Superintendent Diana Showalter said.

Scott Zubowski ran track and cross country and was a swimmer in high school. He was a bright student who took honors English and once won a national award for a composition. He also loved art and making sculptures. Last December, he married Clancy, another North Manchester graduate, his father said.

Zubowski opted to enlist in the Marine Corps shortly after graduation. He dreamed of becoming an officer and followed his older brother David’s advice to work his way up from the bottom, their father said. David Zubowski is a crew chief on a helicopter.

“It’s a shame things have happened,” Rick Zubowski said quietly of his son’s death. “He knew full well what he was getting into.”

After his first tour in Iraq, Scott Zubowski spent time with a military police unit but he was itching to return to his unit and get back to work in the Mideast, his father said.

Zubowski is the 49th Hoosier soldier to die after being sent to the Mideast since the buildup for the invasion of Iraq began in 2003.

Army Sgt. Christopher Talor Monroe, 19, of Kendallville, died Oct. 25 in Basra when his convoy was attacked at a roadblock. He was buried on Nov. 5 at Highland Park Cemetery in Fort Wayne.

The last few lines of “The Marines Hymn” state that Marines guard the streets of heaven, Rick Zubowksi recalled. “That’s where Scott is now. He’s on heaven’s streets.”