Two Soldiers From Region Killed

Williamsburg and Baltimore Men Came Under Attack

When Dwayne L. Moore was a kid, he didn't have just one G.I. Joe doll. He had all of them.

"He had the forts, he had the men, he had the stations, everything set up in his room, like on TV," said his nephew Dameian James, who grew up with Moore. "As little kids, we ate together, we slept in the same bed, we shared our dreams, we shared our feelings."

So it was no surprise to his family that Moore joined the Army after high school and steadily climbed the ranks. Moore, 31, a field artillery warrant officer assigned to the 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, was killed April 19 when his base near Mahmudiyah, Iraq, came under attack.

Moore, of Williamsburg, was one of two soldiers on duty in Iraq from Maryland and Virginia whose deaths were announced by the military yesterday. The other was Army Staff Sgt. Marlon B. Harper, a Baltimore native, who died Saturday after he came under fire while on patrol in Baghdad.

Moore's sister Phyllis Thompson said Moore apparently was killed as he was trying to help comrades. "He cared about everybody," Thompson said. "Our kids, if he'd see one of them going this way or that way, he'd say, 'Boy, get your life straight,' and ask about the Lord and ask them what they wanted to do with their life."

Moore, the youngest of seven children, always seemed to know what he wanted, family members said. He married his high school sweetheart, Kelly, and they had a daughter, Aiyana, 5, who worshiped her father. The feeling was mutual. "Even if he went to the barbershop, she'd go along," said Sandra Wallace, another sister.

Moore's awards and decorations included the Purple Heart, an Army Commendation Medal, an Army Good Conduct Medal, a National Defense Service Medal, and a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. He went to Iraq in August 2006 and was due home for a leave this month, James said.

His family last heard from him April 10. "He had called on my father's birthday," said Moore's brother Gary.

Moore was a big man -- a wide receiver in high school, a father and a godfather, an Army officer. But now, his brother said, their grieving mother keeps saying, "That's the baby. That's the baby."

Harper "died of wounds suffered when he came on contact with enemy forces using a rocket propelled grenade and small arms fire during combat operations," the Army announced in a brief statement.

Harper, 34, the father of three, was on his third tour in Iraq, his wife, Stacy, said yesterday. Originally, Harper was scheduled to return home in October, but then his tour was extended until January 2008, she said.

"He was a great, great person," she said quietly.

Harper, trained as a tank commander, was based at Fort Hood in Texas. He had served in the Army 14 years, his wife said.

"He died doing what he loved," she said. She and the couple's children -- son Dominic, 12, and twin daughters Jessica and Jennifer, 10 -- were living in Florida near her parents while Harper was in Iraq. He kept in touch with letters, e-mails and, when possible, telephone calls.

Stacy Harper said the family was still trying to cope with the news.

"We're doing the best we can right now," she said. "Everybody is trying to wrap themselves around what is going on."

Staff researcher Karl Evanzz contributed to this report.