Army Sgt. Kyle W. Childress

Died January 21, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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29, of Terre Haute, Ind.; assigned to the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany; died of wounds received in Duluiyah, Iraq, when his unit was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire, on Jan. 21 in Balad, Iraq.

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Soldier killed in Iraq was to have returned next month

Associated Press

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The mother of a soldier from Terre Haute killed last week in Iraq said he seemed confident that he would be safe when they spoke two weeks ago.

Army Sgt. Kyle William Childress, 29, died Friday in Balad, north of Baghdad, from wounds he received when his unit was attacked in Duluiyah, Iraq, the Department of Defense said Monday.

“He, in his own mind and heart, knew he was good at his job and trained well,” Nancy Knight of Prairieton told the Tribune-Star. “He was proud.”

Childress was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division based in Schweinfurt, Germany, the military said.

His yearlong tour of Iraq would have been completed at the end of February, his family said. He planned to spend time with his fiancee in Germany and then come home for about a month, said his father, Keith Childress.

“You couldn’t have asked for a better kid,” he said.

Family members described Childress as easygoing and calm and said they were surprised when he joined the unit, which has seen action in Iraq.

Gretta Childress said she was proud of her brother.

“He didn’t go into the Army and try to go to the middle,” she said. “He went right to the front.”

Kyle Childress was a 1994 graduate of Terre Haute South Vigo High School, where he played football.

He was the 38th person from Indiana to have died after being sent to the Middle East since the buildup for the invasion of Iraq began in early 2003.