NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Sgt. Roger Rowe, a Tennessee National Guardsman killed by a sniper in Iraq earlier this month, will be memorialized Friday.

Rowe, 54, of Bon Aqua, died July 9 during an ambush of a convoy in which he was driving a fuel tanker truck.

Rowe, who served two years in Vietnam and volunteered for the Gulf War but wasn’t called up, was a member of Detachment 1, 771st Maintenance Company in Hohenwald. However, he was serving in Iraq with the 1174th Transportation Company from Dresden and Newbern because of his experience driving a truck.

Rowe had served in an Army medical unit during Vietnam and spent 17 years in the National Guard.

Visitation was scheduled from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. Thursday and again Friday morning at Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens, with the funeral set for 1 p.m. CDT Friday at Harpeth Hills Memory Chapel.

“Losing a Tennessee soldier is like losing a family member. Let’s join together and honor a hero who died to keep us safe,” the family said in a written statement Thursday.

Sergeant Rowe will receive posthumously the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.