Kevin A. Cuming never had a girlfriend, but his mom was working on that. While he was in Iraq, his mother, Yolanda, would tell him on the phone that she was scoping out prospects while walking through New York. "I used to say to him, 'I'm checking out all the girls for you for when you come home,'" she said. Cuming, 22, of White Plains, N.Y., died Aug. 21 while on patrol in Baghdad when a rocket-propelled grenade hit a Humvee he was driving. He was based at Fort Hood, Texas, and wanted to be a cook after completing his military service. His room at home displays his collection of shells and rocks, his uniform from cooking classes at Westchester Community College, his Lego collection, his mountain biking magazines and a drawing of Spider-Man that he had done several years ago. Friends and neighbors remembered Cuming as a good-natured guy who liked to mountain bike, cook and listen to rock 'n' roll. "The saddest memory now is when I am older and I look back and think of my best friend as a 22-year-old boy," said Paul Recchia. "That is what is going through my mind. He will forever be 22."

— Associated Press