Army Spc. Alan N. Bean Jr.

Died May 25, 2004 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom

22, of Bridport, Vt.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 86th Field Artillery, Army National Guard, Williston, Vt.; killed May 25 when his unit came under mortar attack at Forward Operating Base Kalsu, near Iskandariyah, Iraq.

Spc. Alan Bean Jr. was a country boy who loved the country life. "A rusty truck, a six-pack and country music is all he needed to be happy," said Jim Varney, one of his best friends. "I called him a redneck and he called me a city boy. That was Alan, just an all-American guy." Bean, 22, of Bridport, Vt., a member of the Vermont National Guard, was killed May 25 in an attack south of Baghdad. His death means he will never get a chance to meet his son, who was born the day he landed in Kuwait. "He left behind a legacy and gave me a special gift," said Heather Annas, Bean's girlfriend and mother of his child. "I get to look at that gift every day and remember what a good man he is."

— Associated Press