A soldier who died Sept. 6 in Iraq enlisted in the Army at Ponca City, but he had no other connection to Oklahoma, his family said Tuesday.
Dawn Petrakovits, the mother of Sgt. John A. Carroll, 26, said she believed her son was just passing through Oklahoma when he enlisted at age 19.
"We don't have any family in Oklahoma," Petrakovits said from her home in Pittsburgh.
Carroll was killed by small-arms fire during a dismounted security patrol at Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, which is based at Baumholder, Germany.
Maj. Wayne Marotto of the 1st Armored Division in Wies-baden, Germany, said Carroll's unit was providing security and searching for enemy fighters and weapons.
"They're looking for the bad guys, that's for sure," said Marotto, who described the Ramadi area as "lawless."
"They've gotten into some pretty tough fighting there."
Carroll died after he was shot in the leg, Marotto said.
Petrakovits said her son grew up in rural Green County, Pa., near Morgantown, W.Va., where he was born.
As a teenager, he moved to Georgia to live with his father, Richard Carroll, who is now retired in Panama, she said.
Carroll's wife, Jessica Carroll, lives in Germany. She is from Indiana.
Petrakovits said her son and his wife had been married less than a year and that they had planned to move to Tennessee after his discharge next month.
She said his funeral would be this weekend at McMinnville, Tenn., where
Carroll had planned to live "because he loved the country and wanted to be near the mountains."
Petrakovits said her son joined the military for its educational opportunities.
"He called from Iraq whenever he could," she said. "He was always telling me not to worry -- that he was doing his best to stay safe."
Petrakovits said her son was well-liked by everyone: "He had a way of making people like him."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Manny Gamallo 581-8386
manny.gamallo@tulsaworld.com
