Name: Army Spc. Justin O. Penrod

By Associated Press with Pantagraph staff

FARMER CITY -- A 24-year-old Army specialist killed recently in Iraq had ties to Farmer City, city officials said Monday.

Spc. Justin Penrod, a Danville native who later lived in Mahomet, died Aug. 12 in Baghdad of wounds from an explosive device, the department said last week.

Penrod worked for the city of Farmer City for two months in 2006 as a summer maintenance employee, City Manager David Joswiak said.

Three other members of Penrod�s battalion, part of the 3rd Infantry Division based in Fort Stewart, Ga., also were killed in the explosion.

Family and friends described Penrod as a caring man who had a lifelong interest in the military and often doted on his older brother, Rick Reavis, a quadriplegic who lived on his own.

"He always wanted to help people that need help," said his mother, Tina Tuttle, of Danville.

Penrod graduated from Lincoln�s Challenge Academy, a military academy in Rantoul, at age 17 and immediately joined the Illinois National Guard, family members said.

After leaving the guard, he worked at Lincoln�s Challenge and held a job fixing air conditioners for P&P Service Center in Mahomet. In the summer of 2004, a customer introduced him to his wife, Christina.

They married months later and Penrod left for his first tour in Iraq in January 2005. He reenlisted shortly after his now 8-month-old son, Colin, was born and left for his second tour this July.