As a medic, Ray M. Fuhrmann II probably saved more lives in Iraq over the past three years than most emergency room doctors.

“Ray saved everybody — Iraqis, soldiers, anybody. He didn’t care,” said his wife, Tylea. “He even tried to go to the Iraqi hospitals to help people who were wounded.”

Fuhrmann, 28, of Novato, Calif., was killed by a roadside bomb Aug. 18 in Samarra. He was assigned to Fort Stewart and was on his second tour of Iraq.

Fuhrmann, who grew up in Hawaii, attended community colleges in Sonoma and Alameda counties. He married his high school sweetheart, enlisted and shipped out for Iraq, all in 2002.

“He was a wonderful person. He was an asset to the community and to the country, and they are the ones who will be losers, really,” said his grandfather, Ray Fuhrmann.

The younger Fuhrmann enjoyed martial arts and studied aikido in Japan....