Festus soldier killed in Iraq

FESTUS, Mo. -- A 27-year-old who was scheduled to come home from Iraq in two weeks was killed by a roadside bomb in Fallujah, his family said this weekend.

Army Staff Sgt. Brandon Wallace, who had been reactivated from the Individual Ready Reserve and had been deployed since May, was killed Saturday, his family said.

He was preparing to come home and marry an Army specialist he had met and proposed to in Iraq.

His father, Rickey Wallace, said his son already had served his active duty contract for three years in Germany and Kosovo.

"In Brandon's mind, he thought he was basically done," Rickey Wallace said. "He was shocked that they called him back."

Brandon Wallace graduated from Crystal City High School in 1998. He had been taking classes at the police academy in St. Charles when he was reactivated.

Rickey Wallace urged his son to ask if he could graduate from the academy before being deployed, and the Army agreed.

Robin Wallace said she took some comfort in hearing her son had died instantly.

Wallace's parents told the Web site for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday.com, they will meet their son's fiancee for the first time next week when she brings their son's body home.