Family Mourns Soldier Killed in Iraq

Oct. 26, 2005 — -- Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander Jr. had promised his 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter that he would be coming home to Killeen, Texas, just after Christmas.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that Alexander died Saturday in San Antonio of wounds suffered Oct. 17 in a blast in Samarra, 60 miles north of the Iraqi capital. The American death toll in the Iraq war has reached 2,000.

"He was always smiling," said Sasha Spence, Alexander's sister. "If you were down, he would pick you up."

"He was a wonderful person," she added. "He never met a stranger."

Alexander's platoon had two nicknames for him, "A-train" and "Grandpa," because he was their oldest member, said his mother, Anne Spence. Alexander was 34.

She said she worried about her son, but she "gave to him God."

Alexander was patrolling in his Bradley fighting vehicle when a roadside bomb exploded. Military officials told Alexander's family that he helped pull a number of soldiers from the burning vehicle, but that he was severely injured in the attack. He was flown from Iraq to the Army's burn unit in San Antonio, and died several days later.

"He was like a hero, he was trying to save them," said Anne Spence.

Alexander had been home recently for three months because of a broken arm. When it came time for him to return to Iraq, he didn't want to go, but knew it was his duty, his mother said.

"He showed a little concern when it was time to go back, he was a little depressed," she said. "He didn't want to go back, but he said he was in the Army."

His funeral will be held Saturday in Clanton, Ala.

"He was a wonderful brother and I would give anything to have him back," said Sasha Spence.