Timothy W. Brown killed by I.E.D.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A Sacramento Marine was killed Tuesday while serving in Iraq.

Lance Corporal Timothy Brown, 21, died after his humvee was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq’s Al Anbar province.

Brown had only been in Iraq for two months when he was killed.

Speaking to KCRA 3’s Edie Lambert Wednesday night, Brown’s family described him as a prankster and an athlete. Brown was a wrestler at Sacramento’s Foothill High School.

The family was planning Brown’s wedding. He and his fiancee met when they were 15 years old.

“He would always tell me I was his soul mate and the love of his life and I felt the same way. I’m just going to miss his personality and his smile,” said Brown’s Fiancee, Ashley Milami.

While Brown’s mother is mourning the death of her son, she’s also battling cancer.

“They told me it was terminal cancer but he gave me all the hope because that's what I was living for, to dance at his wedding,” said Susan Brown.

“Joining the Marines, he was proud. When he came home I saw a man, not a little boy that had left, but they made him into a man, a man that I really respected. And I felt that he wanted to be there to honor his country and he said no matter what, Mom, I'm there for our freedom,” Brown said.

Timothy Brown will be buried next week at Mount Vernon Memorial Park in Fair Oaks, and he has now been awarded the Purple Heart.

From KCRA 3