SABINE PASS — Private 1st Class Ryan Berg, 19, of Sabine Pass was killed by sniper fire in Iraq recently, according to a family spokesperson. He is the first soldier from Sabine Pass to be killed in the war in Iraq.

Berg had returned home during the Christmas holiday for a visit with family and friends. He returned to Iraq on Jan. 4. While he was at home he was interviewed by Port Arthur News staff writer Mary Meaux for a story published Dec. 24, 2006.

Here is that story:

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When Scottie Berg heard that her son, Ryan Berg, would be home for Christmas, she didn’t believe the news at first.

The 19-year-old Army Private First Class has been deployed to Iraq since Oct. 4 so a trip home to Sabine Pass didn’t seem plausible. Then she received a phone call.

"It feels great to have him home," Scottie Berg said from her festively decorated home amid loved ones. "I was so excited to have him come home I hugged him and kissed him all over the face."

Ryan Berg is a newlywed. His wife of three months, Katie, 19, was ecstatic when she heard he would be coming home. The couple met while the soldier was stationed at Fort Hood.

With a limited time available for the Berg family to enjoy the holidays at home, Ryan and Katie Berg are splitting their time up between loved ones. First they will spent time with Ryan Berg’s father, Travis Berg and his family then they will visit Katie’s family in Dallas. Later the couple will move on to spend time with Scottie Berg’s family in Corrigan.

But just in case her son would not be home for Christmas, Scottie Berg went ahead and sent a number of presents to Iraq for Ryan and some of the other soldiers in his unit.

"Some fun things for him and his friends," Scottie Berg said. "I sent six or seven with notes that said ‘do not open until Christmas’ and added (on her son’s gifts) ‘and hopefully you won’t have to open this until after Christmas because you get to come home.’"

The young soldier has a good support group in his small home town. His mother is administrative assistant at Sabine Pass School and whenever Ryan Berg would call home during the week, someone would stay on the phone with him until his mother was available. Even his two younger siblings, Brad, 16, and Marissa, 10, were able to get time on the phone with their older brother. Some times it was teachers who spent time talking to Ryan, other times it was the women in the office and even the principal, Kristi Heid.

"Thank God the principal loves me," Ryan Berg said with a laugh.

Wife Katie also had received time on the phone with her husband. Both Scottie Berg and Katie Berg know when to expect a call from Ryan when he was away from home.

"What was bad was when he would say ‘I’ll call you right back’ or I’ll call you tomorrow’ and he didn’t," the mother said. If he didn’t return the calls it usually meant the phone lines were down, but that didn’t keep his loved ones from worrying.

‘I’d call her (Scottie Berg) crying wondering what was going on," Katie Berg said.

"One of his friends was shot by a sniper," Scottie Berg said quietly. "Things like that make it more real to us, we know what could happen."

The support for the troops also comes from the students at the school. A number of grade levels have sent cards and letters to Berg’s unit - 112 Cav. 3rd Brigade, Bravo Company. Some of the classes have adopted Ryan Berg’s unit for the year and sent packages to the soldiers. And the proud mother also sends also The Port Arthur News and the school newspaper from time to time to let her son known what’s going on at home, she said.

Katie Berg keeps the dog tags her husband wore in boot camp on a necklace around her neck. One of the tags has a photo of Ryan Berg with the name of his unit on the flip side. She never take it off, she said.

But on Jan. 4, the young soldier will leave for Dallas to fly back to Iraq. He has nine to 10 months left to serve in Iraq then one year left to serve his country. He already has plans for the future.

"I want to go to school and get certified as a welder," he said. "And definitely move back home. My dad wants to build us a house out here."