Army Cpl. James C. Young

Died November 3, 2010 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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25, of Rochester, Ill.; assigned to 323rd Engineer Company, 412th Theater Engineer Command, Army Reserve, Darien, Ill.; died Nov. 3 in Nar Kariz in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device.

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Returned from leave only days before death

The Associated Press

James “Chad” Young was a tall, smiling guy who was always quick with a joke. The 25-year-old Rochester, Ill., native graduated from Glenwood High School in 2003 and is still remembered for cracking jokes about pirates with teacher Jim Mlinar.

“He was just somebody you were happy to see every day,” Mlinar told The State Journal-Register.

Young enlisted in 2004 and was on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan, where he worked as a combat engineer, clearing explosives from the road — something he was doing when he died Nov. 3 in Kandahar province.

He’d been on leave visiting family in Illinois and returned to Afghanistan only five days before he was killed by a roadside bomb.

“Not everyone is suited to the stress of knowing that they’re going to go out and literally look for trouble,” Gen. Bud Jameson, brigade commander for Young’s unit, told the newspaper. “I can’t think of a more honorable thing to do in combat than making the way safe for other soldiers.”

Young is survived by his parents, two siblings and his girlfriend, among others. He was based in Darien, Ill.