Cpl. William Richardson ,

1st Battalion, 41st Infantry, 1st Armored, Apr. 3, 2005

The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks made a soldier out of William Dean Richardson .

"It lit a fire in his soul," said his older brother, Greg. "He couldn't stop talking about it. He wanted to make things right." Richardson , 23, of Moreno Valley, Calif., drowned on April 3, 2005. in Baghdad. He was based at Fort Riley.

His family was told that Richardson fired all his ammunition to cover for his buddies who scrambled to safety, then jumped into a concrete-lined canal to escape insurgent fire.

In high school, Richardson was on the wrestling team and a ferocious linebacker on the football team.

"He was an animal," said former teammate Dan Ganczak. "He filled the other team with terror."

He enlisted in the Army in February 2002 and was on his second tour of Iraq when he was killed.