2 Soldiers From Virginia Die in Iraq Within Days

In the tiny town of Harrisburg, friends and neighbors were reeling at the news of Fegler's death.

Like Wren, Fegler had been interested in the military since boyhood. "When he was very small, at recess, he and the boys would play at soldiers," said Sarah Lease, a classmate who had known him since first grade. "He loved serving his country. He talked about it all the time."

Fegler lived in Virginia Beach with his wife, Shianne, who is in the Navy, and their 2-year-old son, Aiden.

Tall, blond and lanky, he played basketball and football at Banner County High School, where the graduating class had 17 people. After high school, he spent four years in the Marines, and he enlisted in the Army this year, Lease said. He hoped to join the Special Forces.

Lease said she and her classmates visited Fegler's mother and stepfather Monday night to offer condolences. She said his death has touched everyone in Harrisburg, population 75.

"It's really made the war real," she said. "Until something like this happens, it doesn't seem like it's really there. In a community that's so small and everyone knows everyone, it's really opened people's eyes."

Jan Wiseman, whose son John Harsh was a close friend of Fegler's, recalled his close friendships. "There is a pack of six to eight boys that ran with each other all the time who have stayed very, very close," she said, adding that her son, a Marine, was on his way back to Harrisburg after hearing about Fegler's death. "They were brothers through and through, and that's how he felt about the military, too."

Puckett said that Wren was excited about his new posting in Iraq. "He felt that he was doing great work, helping to free the Iraqi people," he said.

Wren will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday, his brother said. No funeral arrangements have been made for Fegler.

Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.