McHenry soldier was proud of his job

Keith Nurnberg always wanted to join the Army but waited until he was 22, one of his sisters recalled Friday.

"He believed in the Army," Kim Nurnberg said. "He was proud of what he was doing."

Specialist Keith Nurnberg, 26, of McHenry died Wednesday after his unit was attacked during a combat operation in Baghdad, the Defense Department announced Friday.

A McHenry West High School graduate, Nurnberg was on his second tour in Iraq as part of an infantry unit based at Fort Benning, Ga.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Nurnberg is the 21st soldier from Illinois to die in the war in the Middle East this year and the 132nd to die since the war started.

Kim Nurnberg described her brother as "very patriotic." He always will be the family's hero, she said.

"He died fighting for his country, and he died fighting for what he believed in," she said.

Nurnberg's wife, Tonya, is a third-grade teacher at Village Elementary School in Round Lake. Their first child is due in November.

Kim Kearby, who leads Round Lake Area Unit District 116's teachers union, works with Tonya Nurnberg at Village School.

He expects union members will work to help Tonya Nurnberg, a teacher there since 2000, if she cannot return to work soon and exhausts her vacation days and sick time.

"We grieve along with Tonya and the sacrifice her husband has given to all of us," Kearby said.

In addition to his wife and sister, Nurnberg's survivors include his parents, Barb and Al Nurnberg of McHenry; two other sisters; three nephews; and two nieces.