HIGGINSON, Ark. — An Arkansas soldier died July 15 from injuries sustained in Balad, Iraq, the Defense Department announced.

Sgt. John R. Massey, 29, of Higginson was injured when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle July 14. The Defense Department said Massey died the next day.

“I received a call that said he had severe head trauma,” his wife, Amanda Massey, told The Daily Citizen newspaper in Searcy.

The Masseys have three children, Monica, 11, Joseph, 9, and Emily, 7.

“He loved his kids more than anything in the world,” his sister, Christy Homsley, told the paper. “They were No. 1 in his life.”

Amanda Massey said her husband returned to Iraq on June 22 after spending two weeks in Arkansas. Massey was in the Arkansas National Guard and assigned to C Battery, 142nd Fires Brigade, from Ozark. The brigade has more than 300 soldiers deployed.

The Arkansas National Guard has more than 1,100 soldiers and airmen deployed.

Overall, a count by The Associated Press shows 47 military members from Arkansas have died in the Iraq war. Two Arkansans have died in Afghanistan.