BAUMHOLDER, Germany — Another soldier from a hard-hit Baumholder-based infantry unit has been killed in Iraq.

Spc. Hai Ming Hsia, 37, of New York City, died Tuesday after a roadside bomb hit his convoy during combat in Ramadi. Hsia was assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division.

Of the 21 1st AD soldiers to die since April 1, 10 have been from 2-6.

Hsai came to the Army late in life, joining at 33 years old to support a newborn son, Brendon, now 3, his mother, Nelida Hsai, told the New York Daily News.

Her son had returned to their Chinatown home on leave this summer, going back to Iraq a month ago, the mother said.

“He didn’t want to go back,” she is quoted as saying. “He already missed out on so much with his son and his life, especially with his son. They were inseparable. He took him everywhere when he was home. He was his life.”

Hsia is survived by his mother, his son and his father, Ting Fang.

A memorial for Hsai is planned for 10 a.m. Tuesday at Good Samaritan Chapel at H.D. Smith Barracks in Baumholder.

Part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, some 2-6 soldiers were called north in March to Iraq from Kuwait, where they had been held as a reserve force since deploying in November 2005. Other 2nd BCT soldiers went to Iraq in late May.

Though the battalion has lost soldiers in Baghdad, the majority of casualties have been in turbulent Ramadi, where U.S. forces are using new combat outposts to drive farther into the city, isolating insurgents in the center.

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