Pfc. Nathaniel A. Given

Nathaniel A. Given's 6-foot-4 frame proved useful for the Army's needs, which were not altogether to his own liking. "He would complain to me: 'Dad, how come you made me so big? They make me carry the big weapons,'" Scott Given said. Given, 21, of Dickinson, Texas, was killed Dec. 27 when his convoy was ambushed outside of Baghdad. He was assigned to Fort Drum. After dropping out of high school his junior year, Nathan found work at the same chemical plant his dad works for. But it just wasn't right for him. "He was frustrated because he couldn't find his niche," Scott Given said. Enlisting was the answer for a happy-go-lucky guy his dad described as a man who loved kids and "anything with big tires on it." Nathan, who wanted to become a police officer, made it a point to join his dad, a Shriner, for toy drives every year. He also asked his family for extra boxes of candy, which he would hand out to children in Iraq. "He would have been a great, great father," Scott Given said, choking back tears. "He was so great with kids." He also is survived by his mother, Donna.