Marine Cpl. Bernard Gooden went to war excited about the adventure in front of him, but after seeing so much death in the Iraqi desert, he had one word for the experience - "horrible."

The 22-year-old from Mount Vernon was one of two young men from New York State on yesterday's Pentagon list of servicemen killed in action. As Gooden's relatives mourned, so did the family of Army Pfc. Gregory Huxley, 19, of upstate Forestport, in Oneida County.

Gooden poured out his feelings about his journey through Iraq in the last letter he would ever write to his mother, Carmen Thompkins.

"He was a kid any mother would love to have," Thompkins, 44, said yesterday. "He was very warm."

Gooden was part of the Marines' 2nd Tank Battalion, nicknamed the Masters of the Iron Horse.

Just before Gooden's tank rolled toward Baghdad, he sent the letter to his mom, thanking her for a care package.

"It was the best letter that anybody could ever have," Thompkins said.

Gooden grew up in the island nation of Jamaica and was a straight-A student.

He briefly attended York College in Toronto. But when he could no longer afford the tuition, he joined the Marines in June 2001, deciding that the service could offer him a way to finish his education and help fulfill his dream of becoming a corporate lawyer.

But his life ended Friday in an intense firefight 25 miles outside Baghdad. Gooden's unit was ambushed by the Al Nida Division of Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard, who fired on the convoy from roadside trenches.

It took five hours for the 2nd Tank Battalion to defeat the Iraqi soldiers. When the shooting stopped, Gooden and two others in his unit lay dead.

"There was no doubt in his life," Gooden's fiancée, Elizabeth Knox, said yesterday from Gooden's family home. "He was very proud to be a Marine."

In Forestport, Gregory Huxley Sr. spoke proudly of his son's desire to "serve his country." A member of B Company, 3rd Battalion, 17th Engineer Battalion, Huxley was killed by enemy fire on Sunday in Iraq.

"He was following his calling," the father said.