
BRYAN, Texas — Pfc. David Parker’s quick wit and smiling face earned him many friends in Central Texas even though he lived there just two years.
“Every time I was with him there was always something to laugh about,” said his girlfriend, Amy Bolline. “He was such a happy person you couldn’t help but be happy right along with him.”
Parker, 20, was killed in Iraq on Jan. 21 when a mortar round exploded near him at his compound near Baqubah. He joined the Army in October 2002 and had been assigned to the Fort Hood-based 4th Infantry Division’s 588th Engineer Battalion since February.
Another member of the battalion, 22-year-old Spc. Gabriel Palacios, also died in the attack. A...