Brian M Wood

Sgt. Brian M. Wood was a quiet and sensitive history buff, friends and family said. When his family's cat was sick, he stayed with the animal for hours, comforting it before it died. "He was someone who would always be there," said Kevin McDonald, a friend since childhood. "He was just a genuinely great person. I couldn't have asked for a better friend." The 21-year-old combat engineer from Torrance, Calif., was killed April 16 in Tikrit, Iraq, apparently by a land mine. He was stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany. The soldier "believed in what he was doing," said his father, Greg Wood. "He was so sure of that. He was so sure he was doing good." In a letter to his uncle the week of his death, Wood wrote of his satisfaction with...