Army Pfc. Jeremiah J. Monroe

Died September 17, 2009 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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31, of Niskayuna, N.Y.; assigned to the 7th Engineer Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.; died Sept. 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

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‘We were together as one,’ brother says

The Associated Press

Jeremiah Monroe liked to build and fix things, and his brother said he was a master tradesman.

“You name a blue-collar trade, he could do it,” Robert Monroe said of his older brother. Robert Monroe said he had a strong relationship with Jeremiah, forged through the family’s hard times.

“We haven’t had the easiest life. There wasn’t any little brother, big brother,” said Robert Monroe, who also is in the military. “We were together as one.”

Jeremiah Monroe, 31, of Niskayuna, N.Y., was killed Sept. 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when the vehicle in which he was riding hit a roadside bomb. He was a combat engineer assigned to Fort Drum, N.Y. He joined the Army in March 2008 and was on his first deployment to Afghanistan, Army officials said.

Monroe enjoyed drawing motorcycles and cars, and served as a mentor in the Big Brothers-Big Sisters program, his family said in his obituary.

Monroe’s great-aunt, Netty Manning, said he was well-liked and was happy to use his skills in the military.

“It made him grow up a little bit more,” she said. “He was happy to be there and protecting us and doing what he could protecting his country.”

Monroe is also survived by his daughter, mother and grandmother.