A memorial service will be held Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Benjamin Franklin Village Chapel in Mannheim, Germany, for a soldier who died in Iraq.

Pfc. Bradley S. Coleman, 24, of Martinsville, Va., died Oct. 29 at Qayyarah Airfield — also known as Q-West — of a noncombat related injury, according to a Pentagon news release issued Monday. The incident is under investigation.

Coleman was a member of Mannheim’s 51st Transportation Company. He is survived by his wife, Heather, and his children Edward, 2, and Shyanna, 1.

Coleman’s stepmother, Yolanda Coleman, told the Martinsville Bulletin on Sunday that Coleman died of a gunshot wound.

"His biggest thing was he liked spending time with his children and his wife," Yolanda Coleman told the Bulletin, adding that the couple had known each other since childhood.

Coleman had been in Iraq since June and was scheduled to come home on leave in January. He enlisted in April 2007 and had considered joining the Army all his life.

"He really liked the Army itself, but once he got to Iraq … it was hard on him," his stepmother told the Bulletin. "He told his daddy that what you see on the news and what he saw over there were like two different worlds."

Hometown funeral arrangements were pending, but Coleman’s family was planning a Friday service in the States, the Bulletin reported.

Migrated