SAUK VILLAGE | David Penley has no doubt his 19-year-old son died a hero in Iraq.

Army Pfc. Shane D. Penley was killed Sunday at a patrol base in Iraq from wounds suffered while on duty at a guard post, U.S. Army officials said.

The 19-year-old soldier is a 2007 graduate of Bloom Trail High School in Steger.

"He always wanted to be a hero," David Penley said from the family's Sauk Village home. "He's our little hero. I'm sure whatever the situation was, he stuck his neck out there. He was very brave, very brave."

Shane Penley had been assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., where he arrived in October after entering the Army about four months earlier.

David Penley and his wife, Dena, last spoke with their son Sunday. They said Shane had looked forward to coming home soon on leave from Iraq, where he had been stationed since late December after spending Christmas at home with his family.

David Penley remembered the times he and his son would work out together or play basketball.

"He could run circles around me, even before his training," he said.

David and Dena Penley, who have been married for 31 years and lived in Sauk Village for 29 years, said friends and neighbors have come by to offer their condolences, including a former baby sitter who years ago called the youngster "Tarzan."

"I guess because he would run around with his bleached blonde hair, and in his diapers (he looked like Tarzan)," David Penley said.

On a visit to Fort Campbell, Dena Penley bought a military dog tag she wears on a necklace.

"I bought this dog tag and told him I wouldn't take it off until he got home," she told NBC5. "Now, I guess I'm not going to take it off because he's not home yet."

The youngest of four children, and David and Dena's only son, Shane communicated with his family via e-mail and on a MySpace page. He was a member of First Baptist Church in Hammond. When he returned from duty, he wanted to become a police officer.

The military has said the incident is under investigation, and a memorial service will be held in Iraq followed by a full military burial in the United States.

-- The Associated Press and NBC5 contributed to this report.