By Patrick McGroarty
News Editor

A U.S. Army soldier who grew up on Adams Street was killed in Iraq on Saturday, August 26 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his foot patrol during combat operations.

Spc. Edgardo Zayas, was on a tour of duty in Iraq with the 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The 29 year-old Zayas is survived by his wife, Suheil Cambell Zayas; the couple's two children, Alexa Zayas-Cambell (five years old) and Alexander Zayas (seven years old); his parents, who live in Dorchester; and an older brother.

On Tuesday afternoon, several of Zayas' relatives met with reporters inside the second floor apartment at 428 Adams Street where his parents have lived since he was born in 1977. According to his cousin Abigail Martinez of Springfield, Zayas' wife, also originally from Dorchester, was hospitalized for a severe asthma attack shortly after his death and was en route from Kentucky to Boston with the couple's two children on Tuesday night.

Martinez remembered her cousin as a happy, jolly guy, who had worked hard to better himself and his family.

"He went to Dot High for a while, and dropped out, but earned his degree in 1995," said Martinez.

Zayas held a number of jobs after graduating from high school, said Martinez, and he met his wife while working at a nursing home on Neponset Avenue. The couple was married shortly thereafter, and Zayas enlisted in the Army in 2004 to help support his young family.

"He entered for the same reasons many of us do, for the benefits, to support his family, and to get a college degree with the G.I. Bill," said Norberto Martinez, another cousin from Springfield.

His wife and children moved to Kentucky shortly after he was stationed there in August of 2004, and remained there even after he was deployed to Iraq nine months ago.

Zayas earned two Purple Hearts and the Bronze Star during for his service in Iraq, one Purple Heart and the Bronze Star having been awarded posthumously.

According to the Associated Press, the 20,000 soldiers of the 101st are scheduled to return to the United States by this fall from a yearlong deployment in Iraq with the majority expected home by the end of September.

"I spoke with him a couple weeks ago, and he was really happy because he thought his time there was almost over," said Norberto Martinez. "He expected to be home soon. Everyone was aware of the risk of having him over there, but you never expect it to happen to your family."

Martinez, who said he also served in the Army from 1991 to 1995 including a tour in the Persian Gulf War, spoke disparagingly of the ongoing Iraq conflict.

"As a soldier, they feed you things that aren't real while you're over there," he said. "When I was there in 1991, at least we knew who we were fighting against. Now it's totally different."

With her nephew serving as an interpreter, Glora Zayas said that she would remember her son as a brave soldier who loved his country.

"He was happy, positive, and always held his head up high," she said. "He loved being in the Army."

Zayas is the second soldier from the neighborhood to die in combat in Iraq since the war began in 2004. The first, Sgt. Daniel Londono, was killed when an I.E.D. blew up his Humvee on March 13, 2005. One month later, the city dedicated a "Hero's Square" to Londono at the corner of East Cottage and Dawes Streets.

Ed Crowley, whose son Craig completed a tour of duty in Iraq in 2005, said he would like to see a similar memorial erected in Zayas' memory, and said he hoped to reach out to the Zayas family with condolences from the entire Dorchester community.

"Every time it comes on the news that soldiers have died, it could have been a knock at my door," said Crowley. "I lived through that for twelve months. Karen and I didn't live what [the Zayas family] is living, but we lived a piece of the experience. We don't know the kid, but we feel for the family and everyone else who has lost someone, and when the dust settles, we'll want to make sure he's remembered properly."

At Zayas' childhood home on Tuesday evening, his cousin Norberto promised that he would not be forgotten.

"All we can say is he did something for his country, and he died a hero," he said.

-Associated Press material was used in this report.