LCpl. Robert P. Zurheide, U.S.M.C (KIA)

Marine Lance Cpl. Robert P. Zurheide Jr., a Tucson native, was killed by hostile fire in Iraq Monday, less than a month before his wife was due to deliver their first child.

Zurheide's wife, Elena, is set to deliver a boy, Robert Paul Zurheide III, in early May, said Barbara Pritchett, who had been a foster mother of Elena's and considers the woman a niece.

The 20-year-old Marine is one of six service members with ties to Southern Arizona who have died in accidents or from hostile action in Iraq during the war.

Zurheide, a rifleman with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed in Al Anbar province, according to officials at Camp Pendleton, near San Diego, where Zurheide was based. He was on his second tour of duty in Iraq.

A 2001 Desert View High School graduate, Zurheide joined the Marine Corps on Oct. 9, 2001. He has received several awards, including the Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Zurheide was deployed for his second tour on March 1, just before his second wedding anniversary, and was set to return in October, Pritchett said.

Chief Master Sgt. Armando Liendo of the Air Force junior ROTC at Desert View said he had known Zurheide since his first year in high school.

"From the start, he knew where he wanted to go. His intent all along was to be a Marine," Liendo said.

Zurheide's father is a former Marine, and one of Robert Jr.'s two younger brothers also joined the Marines, Liendo said.

Zurheide "was always a quiet young man," Liendo said. "He wasn't doing it to get noticed; he was doing it to do it. He was very attentive and structured in everything he did."

Liendo recalled a time when Zurheide came by in his Marine uniform after graduating.

"He was proud, as all young Marines are. He did well and was very proud of that.

"I grew up in the Vietnam era, and we were used to hearing young people killed in the war," Liendo continued. "It's ironic - you go through that and then teach in a high school and hear about young guys killed in action. It's sad, but that's what he wanted to do. It's life."

Zurheide and his wife met as eighth-graders at Chaparral Middle School and dated throughout their time at Desert View High. They married on March 30, 2002.

"He was always shy and polite," Pritchett said. "He loved animals, and he loved Elena."

Dianne Purcell, who was Elena Zurheide's leader in 4-H, said she threw a baby shower on April 3, and the couple were excited about having a son.

"Robert was really looking forward to the baby," she said. "He was so excited. Almost from the time they were married, they wanted a baby."

Although she didn't know Zurheide well, she remembers him as a great husband and a polite young man.

"He was a real sweet guy, quiet, a real gentleman," Purcell said.

Zurheide last spoke with his wife on Friday, and she started to worry when she didn't hear from him again, she said.

"I don't know how you face something like this and survive. It's just real hard," Purcell said.

The Zurheide family declined to comment when approached at its South Side home Wednesday.