Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class David A. Cedergren

Died September 11, 2004 serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom

25, of South St. Paul, Minn.; assigned to the 2nd Marine Division Fleet Marine Forces Atlantic; died Sept. 11 in a non-combat-related incident near Iskandariayah, Iraq.

David A. Cedergren was the kind of guy who would share his care packages from home if he noticed a fellow sailor without one. "Dave would have given anything he would have owned to anybody at any time," his brother, Brad, said. "And he has a smile that would cheer anybody up, no matter what they were going through." Cedergren, 25, of South St. Paul, Minn., died Sept. 11 after being found unconscious in a shower. Cedergren, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., liked cars, motorcycles, rebuilding motors and tae kwon do. He planned to go back to school to become a nurse anesthetist. "This guy was amazing. He was absolutely everything that anybody would want as a friend," said his brother, Barry. "He didn't go over there as someone to kill. He went over there because he wanted to help people." In March, Cedergren went to Iraq, a place he joked was the land of "long, never-ending sandy beaches," said his sister Jodi Jensen. Cedergren also is survived by his father and stepmother, Bart and Pam Cedergren, and his mother, Deb Cedergren.

— Associated Press