Fort Wood had a ceremony to send off its 5th Engineer Battalion to Iraq in April 2008. Now one of the faces in the crowd that day is coming home to be laid to rest.

"Most soldiers leave young families behind because most soldiers are young people themselves, so it's a terrible tragedy,” said Col. Rob Risberg.

Parrish, 23, was the father of a 4-year-old. Attacks with the type of grenade that took his life are becoming more common.

"It's an old Soviet- or Russian-made weapon from the old war; it has been growing in use,” said Risberg. “It's thrown by hand, deploys a small parachute out the back and, unfortunately, has a very good penetrating capability into armored vehicles."

Parrish was the platoon medic for the group, charged with clearing roadside bombs. What he did without orders was win over his comrades.

"While Spc. Parrish was being treated for his wounds, he was receiving surgery at Balad; there were 200 of his fellow soldiers lined up outside the hospital prepared to give blood to support him,” said Risberg.

Now the Army will investigate, pledging to learn from what happened so it doesn't again.

Parrish's wife and son live in Alabama near relatives. That’s where Parrish will be laid to rest. He is the second soldier to die in combat from Fort Wood since last October.