Our Latest American Hero #56

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"Family Says Hixson Soldier Killed In Iraq"

HIXSON, Tenn. A soldier killed in Iraq the day before his son's birth was remembered by his mother as "always smiling."

Sgt. John Michael Sullivan, 21, was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colo. He was killed Saturday when his Humvee was struck by a roadside bomb in Sadr City, a Baghdad slum, family members said.

Sullivan volunteered for the Saturday patrol because another soldier was out sick, relatives said. The death was not confirmed by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Family members said Sullivan had planned to return home Jan. 10 from his second tour in Iraq to see his son, who was born early Sunday.

Sullivan was injured on his first tour in Iraq by a roadside bomb, but declined a Purple Heart medal because the ceremony would have kept him from returning home on time, his mother, Debbie Sullivan, told WTVC-TV in Chattanooga.

Sullivan's mother said he joined the Army after graduating from Soddy-Daisy High School in 2003 and taking classes in auto mechanics at Sequoyah Vocational School. He lived in Colorado.

His unit was called back to Iraq in 2006, and Sullivan told his mother he planned to re-enlist when his four years in the Army were up. He wanted to eventually go back to Iraq for a third tour.

"I was upset, but that's a decision that he had to make," his mother said. "He said that he couldn't leave his friends over there, and he wanted to be with them."

She said Sullivan loved tinkering with his Chevy S-10 pickup and was "always smiling."

One of Sullivan's former teachers at Sequoyah, Steve Gossett, remembered him as quiet and deliberative.

"He listened a lot more than he talked, but when he did talk, he was on the money," Gossett said. "He was a pretty solid guy. Anything that he did, it seemed like he was always looking at how to do the best that could be done."

Sullivan got married in Colorado in April and again in a wedding ceremony on July 4th while his parents were visiting, said his aunt, Brenda Sullivan. The couple was expecting a baby boy, and they planned to name him John Walker Sullivan, because they liked the name.

His family learned Saturday evening that Sullivan had died. When his son was born the next day, his wife named him John Michael instead.