But the Hawai'i-based Marine was a sergeant with a job to do, he told his mother and siblings in San Diego.

"He was just so proud to be a Marine," said his younger sister, Icela Donald, 24, of Florida. "It was his choice to go."

The choice proved fatal, however. Peralta, 25, was killed Monday during fighting in Fallujah. He is the 12th to die since the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment from Marine Corps Base, Hawai'i, landed in Iraq last month.

Donald said the family was given few details of her brother's death. A Marine spokesman, who arrived at her mother's home Monday night, told the family that Peralta was in combat when he was shot in the chest.

Although the gunshot knocked him down, Peralta's body armor saved his life, Donald said. But as her brother was getting to his feet, a car bomb exploded. He died as fellow Marines tried to get him to a hospital, Donald said.

"I think what happened, I can't say it makes me happy but I know he was happy serving his country," she said. "That was what he loved the most."

She said her brother was a caring individual who worried about his family.

"Everybody liked him," Donald said. "He was a really nice person. Even if he didn't know you, he would talk to you. He would give anything for anybody."

Peralta enlisted in the Marines in April 2000. He trained as a rifleman with the infantry at Camp Pendleton, Calif. that summer. In December 2003, Peralta was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Battalion at Kane'ohe.

Donald flew to San Diego yesterday. She said she will probably need to stay with her mother to help her cope.

"She is really devastated," Donald said. "We lost my dad three years ago and she was just starting to recover from that. This is just too much for her."

Her mother was angry at the Marines for sending her brother into combat. But Peralta called his mother to ease her fears, Donald said.

"The last time they talked, he told her not to be mad and to respect them," Donald said. "He was just so proud to be a Marine."