Marine, 21, Is Killed in Iraq

Mother and son were so close that when he got stationed at Camp Lejeune almost two years ago, she and his sister moved to North Carolina from Virginia to be closer to him.

"He wanted his mom and his sister down here with him so he would have some family, so that's what we did," Rebecca Yale said yesterday from her home in North Carolina.

A neighbor in Virginia, Kenny Ellis, said Yale was a good son, always "helping his momma."

"He helped her pay the rent, buy a car," Ellis said. "They were right close, and he was a good boy."

Yale graduated from Prince Edward County High School in 2006, his mother said. He was a member of the school robotics and drama clubs. He was a thespian who liked to put on his own plays.

"He could've gone to New York to do his own Broadway show," Rebecca Yale said.

Sydnor said that before shipping out to Iraq, Yale came home to Virginia to say goodbye to friends and family.

"I told him I didn't want him to go because he was young and he didn't know what he was getting into," Sydnor said. "I tried to talk him out of it, but that's what he wanted. And I'm proud of him for going into the service."

Staff researcher Meg Smith contributed to this report.