Newport News Guardsman Dies of Wounds Inflicted by Iraqi Bomb

As she prayed for his recovery from wounds suffered during a roadside bombing last month, Sheena Banks of Newport News was reminded that her husband, Spec. Derek R. Banks, 24, of the Virginia National Guard, had had a "bad feeling" heading into his second tour of duty in Baghdad.

Banks did not recover. With his wife and 18-month-old son at his side, he died yesterday of his wounds at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, according to the Virginia National Guard.

Sheena Banks could not be reached last night. In an interview with the Hampton Roads television station WVEC-TV, she said: "He did not want to go. He was terrified." Nonetheless, he did go, and he was promoted posthumously to the rank of sergeant.

"Sgt. Banks was a brave soldier and made a valiant sacrifice for his country and the commonwealth," Capt. Dayna E. Rowden of the Virginia National Guard said. "Our thoughts and our prayers are with his family."

Banks is the second Virginia soldier to die as a result of the improvised explosive device that exploded late Oct. 25. Spc. David Lambert, 39, of Cedar Bluff died the next day.

Three other combat engineers -- Sgt. James Corbett of Poquoson and Pvt. Eric Holt and Spec. Joshua Primm, both of Williamsburg -- were injured.

Banks was a combat engineer with the 237th Engineer Company, which is based in West Point, Va. He arrived in Iraq on Sept. 27.

Outside of the Guard, he worked at Northrup Grumman Newport News, the enormous builder of nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines on the banks of the James River. He was a graduate of Hampton's Bethel High School, where he played basketball and football and was voted "most popular" in his senior year. Banks graduated in 2001.

Craig Brehon, Banks's basketball coach at Bethel, recalled in the television interview that Banks was always upbeat.

"I can't recall a day that he was down," Brehon said. "That's the part I remember about Derek. The smile he always had on his face. Very infectious. We're just really hurt and saddened by what took place."

Bowden, the National Guard captain, said funeral arrangements are incomplete.