WOODLAWN - A 19-year-old soldier from this small Southern Illinois community has died of injuries suffered while on guard duty in Ramadi, Iraq, his family confirmed over the weekend.

Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jonathan Kyle Price, a 2004 graduate of Woodlawn High School, is the first soldier from Jefferson County to die in Iraq. Price's family learned of his death on Friday.

"He wanted to go over there and fight for his family and his country," John Hunsell, Price's stepfather, told the Centralia Sentinel.

Family members and friends gathered late Saturday morning to remember a man they described as having character, integrity and compassion.

Price, who was set to return home on Feb. 20, was planning to marry his pregnant fiancee.

"He couldn't wait to come home and be with me and the baby," Brea Tate said. "He would have made the best father in the whole world."

The Associated Press