Gunnery Sgt. John D. Fry was due to return home from Iraq to his wife and three children on March 15, just days before the three-year anniversary of the start of the war. But the diligent Marine who specialized in defusing explosive devices was killed Wednesday after he volunteered to disarm a bomb in Iraq's war-torn Al Anbar province.

The shy 28-year-old Lorena native planned to return to his family at the Marine base in Lejeune, N.C., for six months before another tour of duty in Iraq in September. The unit to replace his group had already arrived in Al Anbar, while Fry's unit awaited return flights home.

"He believed in what he was doing," Malia Fry said of her husband. "He was protecting his country, and he was doing his job because he didn't want his children to grow up with people blowing up buildings . . . How he felt about the conflict was that he was doing his job."

As an explosive ordinance disposal technician, Fry disarmed hundreds of bombs during his six-month stint in Iraq.

Although his hitch in Iraq was almost over, Fry volunteered Wednesday to defuse one more bomb, family members said.

Relatives said that despite his best efforts to disarm the device, he was killed in an ensuing explosion.

"He laid down his life so other Marines would be safe, and he did it willingly," Malia Fry said. "Every EOD tech that is over there does the same thing a hundred times a day, and they don't think about themselves. They think about the Marines . . . They think about the children that are over there."

Fry's death brought to at least 2,304 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the beginning of the war, according to a count by the Associated Press.

Fry was assigned to the 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

He served in Iraq's largest province of Al Anbar, a desert area stretching from Baghdad to the borders with Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan. It has been battered with frequent insurgent attacks.

In interviews, Fry's family described him as selfless in his work, protecting both his comrades and Iraqis from explosive devices.

Both his wife and his mother, Beth Fry of Lorena, described an incident in which the Marine answered a call to disarm a bomb and played a game of hide-and-seek with a young Iraqi boy before sending the youngster away from the site and out of danger.

On another occasion, John Fry arrived at an Iraq home to find a bomb strapped to a young mentally retarded Iraqi boy. The Marine disarmed the bomb and saved the child's life.

"He was so proud to be there doing what he was doing," Beth Fry said of her son. "Not just the war part ... but the Marines and all the military people that are there have restored power, built schools, built hospitals and they have running water. Those are the things that nobody talks about and that nobody hears about."

In October, family members said, the soldier suffered a serious hand injury and could have gone to Germany, as the severity of his injury could have provided him a virtual ticket out of Iraq. But his mother said her son wouldn't leave. Instead, he continued working seven more hours to finish disarming an explosive.

"(The military) wanted to give him the Bronze Star for his injury, and he wouldn't accept it," she said. "He said what he was doing was what he was supposed to be doing and what everyone else was doing."

Family members described Fry as shy, quiet and often deep in thought.

The graduate of Waco Christian Academy was happy to be salutatorian of his high school class because he didn't like speaking in public and didn't want to give a speech at his graduation.

Relatives said Fry will be remembered as a devoted father and a humble patriot.

Family members said he had no second thoughts about returning to Iraq in September and served with the thought of his children's freedom in mind. The Marine left behind three children: Kathryn, 9; Gideon, 7; and C.L., 2.

"He was a person who knew exactly what he wanted to do and was willing to make the sacrifice to do it," Beth Fry said. "And he realized the cost."

kmoore@wacotrib.com