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HAMILTON — A group of friends and family gathered Sunday night to share memories and photos of Cpl. Anthony Vinnedge, who died Thursday in Iraq.

They described the 24-year-old as outgoing and always on the go.

After serving four years in the Army, Vinnedge had returned and joined the Ohio National Guard while he worked at Hueston Woods State Park. He had volunteered to go to Iraq and was to arrive home in Okeana in Butler County on Wednesday to spend two weeks with his family, said his half brother Michael Vinnedge.

"It's a big loss, a very big loss," said Michael, 25. "He was my brother, a really good-hearted guy. Helped me with anything I needed," he said.

Anthony, who went by the name Tony, loved working on his 1988 Mustang convertible, which he won throwing a football during a high school game.

"We always would go driving around in his car to make sure that thing was top-notch," Michael said.

"Everywhere he'd go he wanted me to go with him," he said. "My brother was pretty much my life."

He and his brother would often visit his favorite restaurant, Buffalo Wild Wings. He also enjoyed video games, his brother said.

He kept in touch on his MySpace.com site, where friends since Thursday have been leaving messages of farewell, most saying he was their hero for his service to the country.

Tony was serving as a missile launcher on the front lines, though not much was known of his assignment in Iraq, nor the circumstances surrounding his death.

A 2001 Talawanda High School graduate, he spent a short time at Miami University's Oxford campus, where he was last studying psychology before leaving for the Army.

"I was surprised when he told me he was going into the Army, but he always excelled in everything he did," said Paula Faust, the mother of Michael.

"(He was) just an all-in-all nice kid," she said. "He never met a stranger."

Family members said arrangements are pending at the Webb Noonan Funeral Home in Hamilton. Burial will be at Greenwood Cemetery in Hamilton.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or mengle@coxohio.com.