Cpl. David Fraise

Fraise was the first Schofield Barracks soldier to be killed in combat in Afghanistan since more than 5,000 25th Infantry Division (Light) soldiers left for a yearlong deployment in March and April. Another Schofield soldier died there in April when a machine gun accidentally discharged.

Fraise followed the lead of other relatives who had joined the military. His cousin, uncle and grandfather also had served in the armed forces, said his aunt, Connie Craig.

"Helping people was one of his main priorities. He knew the Bible," said Craig, who lives in New Orleans. "I remember his mom saying this was something she couldn't talk him out of because this was something he wanted to do. He wanted to help the country."

Fraise's wife, Jenaiece, and a six-month-old daughter, Jireah, live in Hawai'i.

The couple had married before Fraise deployed, said his grandmother, 67-year-old Willie Mae Fraise, also of New Orleans.

"He was a really nice child, never caused his mom trouble," she said. "He would go to church, go to work, go to school, everything."

Described as outgoing, Fraise participated in student government in high school. He was 7 when his father died of cancer, relatives said.

"His mother, she hasn't called me. I think she's in a daze right now," Willie Mae Fraise said. "In a letter, he told his momma, 'Don't worry about me,' before he got killed."

Asked what she thought about her grandson being killed in Afghanistan, she said, "I'm going to tell you what I told everybody else — it's not only him, it's a whole group of boys."

Jenaiece Fraise is expected to fly into New Orleans on Monday, Willie Mae Fraise said.

Division spokeswoman Pat Simoes said Fraise's wife had asked that reporters not contact her about her husband's death. Family Readiness Group members were meeting with her, Simoes said.

Fraise was assigned to A Company with the 2-35 Cacti. He joined the Army in June 2001 .

Three 3rd Brigade Combat Team battalions from the 25th Division are based at the Kandahar and Bagram areas and near the Pakistan border at Orgun-E and Shkin.

Two other soldiers were wounded in Monday's bombing in Uruzgan province near Deh Rawood.

At least 91 American service personnel have died in and around Afghanistan since the start of the U.S. war on terrorism.

Since the start of the Iraq war in March 2003, 13 American troops with Hawai'i ties have been killed in and out of combat in the Middle East. Only one other, Spc. Phillip W. Witkowski, 24, of Fredonia, N.Y., died as the result of injuries in Afghan-istan. A family friend said a Humvee-mounted machine gun accidentally discharged on April 30 during maintenance and Witkowski was shot. The incident is under investigation.