Sgt. Dayne Dhanoolal was just three weeks away from coming home when he volunteered to go on a mission in a volatile section of Baghdad on Monday.
The Brooklyn native wanted to be with his men in case something went wrong. Something did go wrong and it would be the last time the 26-year-old would lead his men.
Riding in a Bradley M3 in the Iraqi capitol on March 31, Dhanoolal was killed when a roadside bomb detonated near the vehicle, causing the soldier to suffer fatal wounds, the Department of Defense said late Thursday.
He was a combat engineer for the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Benning.
According to his wife, Kynesha, Dhanoolal immigrated to the United States from Trinidad with his family when he was 15. The family settled in Brooklyn, where he went to school, played soccer and enjoyed video games.
The grieving spouse told Columbus television station WTVM she received a text message from her husband just hours before he died.
"He told me, 'I'm OK, I've just been real busy,'" she said. "He said, 'I love you.' It was the last thing he said. Then three hours later, he died."
The couple married on Valentine's Day in 2007, after less than a year of dating, but had little time to enjoy the newlywed life. Three weeks after their wedding, Dhanoolal deployed to Iraq.
His wife said the last time they saw each other was Christmas. They had talked about starting a family.
"He wasn't ready to go," Kynesha Dhanoolal said. "He had his whole life, he had so much going for him. He was very smart, and we were hoping to start a family. He really wanted kids."
She said what she will miss most is her husband's contagious smile that even when "you were mad at him...made you forget you were mad at him."
On her MySpace.com page -- decorated with pictures of her husband, their wedding day and times shared with each other -- Kynesha Dhanoolal wrote, "Baby, I'm so lost without u...my heart is broken...we'll be together again someday in heaven."
The Brooklyn native wanted to be with his men in case something went wrong. Something did go wrong and it would be the last time the 26-year-old would lead his men.
Riding in a Bradley M3 in the Iraqi capitol on March 31, Dhanoolal was killed when a roadside bomb detonated near the vehicle, causing the soldier to suffer fatal wounds, the Department of Defense said late Thursday.
He was a combat engineer for the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Benning.
According to his wife, Kynesha, Dhanoolal immigrated to the United States from Trinidad with his family when he was 15. The family settled in Brooklyn, where he went to school, played soccer and enjoyed video games.
The grieving spouse told Columbus television station WTVM she received a text message from her husband just hours before he died.
"He told me, 'I'm OK, I've just been real busy,'" she said. "He said, 'I love you.' It was the last thing he said. Then three hours later, he died."
The couple married on Valentine's Day in 2007, after less than a year of dating, but had little time to enjoy the newlywed life. Three weeks after their wedding, Dhanoolal deployed to Iraq.
His wife said the last time they saw each other was Christmas. They had talked about starting a family.
"He wasn't ready to go," Kynesha Dhanoolal said. "He had his whole life, he had so much going for him. He was very smart, and we were hoping to start a family. He really wanted kids."
She said what she will miss most is her husband's contagious smile that even when "you were mad at him...made you forget you were mad at him."
On her MySpace.com page -- decorated with pictures of her husband, their wedding day and times shared with each other -- Kynesha Dhanoolal wrote, "Baby, I'm so lost without u...my heart is broken...we'll be together again someday in heaven."