NORTH HUNTINGDON, Pa. — A member of the Air Force from Westmoreland County died Thursday in Iraq after he was wounded in the explosion of an improvised device, the Defense Department said Friday.

Staff Sgt. David A. Wieger, 28, of North Huntingdon, was one of three Americans who died in the attack near Balad Air Base. Also killed were Air Force Master Sgt. Thomas A. Crowell, 36, of Neosho, Mo., and Nathan J. Schuldheiss, 27, an Air Force civilian from Newport, R.I.

Wieger was assigned to Detachment 303, Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Schuldheiss was assigned to Detachment 204, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and Crowell was assigned to Detachment 301, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. All three were special agents to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

A 1997 graduate of Norwin High School, Wieger joined the Air Force about eight years ago, friends said. He left for Iraq last summer.

“He loved it,” a friend, Kevin Martin of Norvelt, said of Wieger’s service in Iraq. “He was having the time of his life.”

“He was really enjoying what he was doing,” Art Leddon told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “He saw himself as making a difference in Iraq.”