Army Sgt. William W. Crow Jr.

Died June 28, 2007 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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28, of Grandview Plaza, Kan.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; died June 28 in Baghdad of wounds sustained when his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device.

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Family, friends recall soldier killed in Iraq

The Associated Press

Army Sgt. William W. Crow Jr. was tough-looking, big-hearted man who loved going skateboarding and hanging out with his buddies.

“He was a happy person. He liked to make people laugh. He was a joy to be around,” recalled his close friend and high school classmate, David Bowman. “It’s like losing a brother.”

Crow, 28, of Grandview Plaza, Kan., was killed by a roadside bomb June 28 in Baghdad. He was a 1997 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Riley, Kan.

Crow enlisted in the military right out of high school. He went to Korea, and then to Iraq. This was his third trip to Iraq. On a previous tour he was awarded a Purple Heart.

He and his wife, Michelle, married four years ago. She already had two sons, Chris, 10, and David, 8; with Crow she had two girls: Alexis, 4, and Kala, 2.

His mother, Kathryn Mondini, last talked to him before Mother’s Day. “I’ll miss his hugs,” she said. “I just want to hear him say ‘Mom, I love you. It’s going to be OK.’ ” “He was my baby,” she added, “he was my lifeline.”