
Staff Sgt. Lincoln Hollinsaid of Malden, Ill., wanted to get into combat, so he transferred in October from a California training post to the battle-ready 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart in Georgia.
“He wanted to go. He was proud of what he did. He was proud of the Army,” said his father, Dan.
Hollinsaid, 27, was killed April 7 in Iraq when the crane he was driving was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
Hollinsaid was working for a construction company when he enlisted in 1995.
“A friend he worked with had been in the military and started telling Linc about it, and he just got infatuated with it,” his father said.
He left for the Middle East on Jan. 22, after spending nearly a month at home for Christmas, along with his...