Soldier Was Determined to Serve

Jen Laybourn and her fiance, Jim Ferguson, attend the funeral of her middle son, Army Pfc. David N. Crombie, 19. (By Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)

David Nicholas Crombie had to fight hard -- and rely on a little luck -- to get into the Army.

He had wanted to enlist since he was a 12-year-old growing up in Yuma, Ariz. He painted his bedroom Army green. He wore Army-green clothes. He gave college a try, but he wanted to help people, and his heart had pointed him toward the Army.

The problem was, he had asthma.

"He wanted to be in the Army so badly that he didn't tell them," said his mother, Jen Laybourn of Winnemucca, Nev. "Then he had an asthma attack."

The Army tried to keep him out of basic training because of it, she said, but he pushed so hard that he finally persuaded officials to let him go through the course and train afterward as a medic.

"He almost didn't make it because he had asthma," Laybourn said. But asthmatics have good days and bad days, she said, and on the day of his physical, he had a good day. And then he was good to go.

He arrived in Iraq in May, and by the end of the month he had accomplished his goal of helping people, she said.

"The last call I got from him, I think it was Memorial Day weekend, he said, 'Mom, I saved an Iraqi soldier today -- it was so cool. I put my training to effect; I saved someone. I'm scared, but it's so great doing this.' "

A week later, on June 7, Pfc. Crombie, 19, died in Ramadi when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee. Another soldier, 1st Lt. Scott M. Love, 32, of Knoxville, Tenn., also was killed in the attack.

Crombie was buried yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery during a lull between rainstorms. His mother dabbed at her eyes as she accepted an American flag from Brig. Gen. Belinda Pinkey. Laybourn's fiance, Jim Ferguson, sat by her side in the muggy air as Crombie received a rifle salute.

Also in attendance was a family friend of Love, who was buried at Arlington last week.

Crombie's grandmother Mary Brock, speaking by phone from Idaho, praised her grandson, known as Nick, for his "great energy of life."