Sgt. Ryan Young , Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry, Dec. 2, 2003

Ryan C. Young showed his fun-loving spirit in the way he wooed Sarah Smith in high school: He played practical jokes on her, tying her shoelaces together and poking holes in her soda cans. But there was more than that between him and the young woman who would become his wife. "We had a bond I won't have with another person," she said. "It's a stronger bond than anyone will ever know."

Young , 21, of Corona, Calif., died Dec. 2, 2003 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., of wounds he received in November when his vehicle was struck by a bomb while on a route-clearing patrol shortly after dawn in Iraq. Two fellow members of his unit, Staff Sgt. Mark Vasquez and Sgt. 1st Cl. Gary Collins, were killed in the explosion. Sgt. Young had been stationed at Fort Riley.

In addition to the Purple Heart, he was a recipient of the Bronze Star for his actions in Iraq. Memorials were erected in his name in his home county in California, and the American Legion Hall in Kansas City was named in his honor.

Young 's mother, Kathi Cutshall, said her son was proud to be serving in the Army.

"He was so excited to go to Iraq," Cutshall said. "That's what he was trained to do. He wanted to protect this country."