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Despite their six-year age difference, Willard T. Partridge and his sister remained close.

“A lot of times growing up, it kind of felt like he was my son,” she said Darlene Moon, 41.

Moon said she and her brother enjoyed hunting and fishing together. Partridge, 35, of Ferriday, La., was killed Aug. 20 in Baghdad by a roadside bomb.

He was based at Fort Lewis, Wash. Partridge was a 1988 high school graduate who advanced to regional and state championships in baseball, showing talent as a pitcher. He trained in refrigeration and welding at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. When the rubber company he worked for closed in September 2002, he joined the Army. Partridge’s cousin, Shelley Poole said she’ll especially miss the big hugs he gave her every time they met.

“He always has a smile on his face,” she said. “The...