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CUTLER, Calif. — A 19-year-old Marine from Tulare County was killed in Iraq last week after stepping on a roadside bomb.

Marine Pfc. Javier Chavez Jr., of Cutler, died last Thursday near Fallujah, Iraq, the Defense Department said in a statement Monday.

“We called him ‘Javi,”’ his stepmother, Veronica Chavez, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “He was a smart and thoughtful little boy, very respectful, very nice. He had a lot of friends.”

Chavez joined the Marines last April and arrived in Iraq last month, according to his stepmother. Just before leaving, he married his girlfriend, Janie Gonzalez.

Chavez’s father said his son wasn’t afraid of dying in Iraq.

“He was more worried about losing his arms or his legs,” Chavez said in Spanish. “I think that worried him a lot more.”

Chavez, who went to Orosi Union High School, played soccer and took karate when he was younger.

Marine Cpl. Ross A. Smith, 21 of Wyoming, Mich., was also killed in the explosion.

The two Marines were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, in Camp Pendleton, Calif.

— Associated Press