SALEM, N.H. (AP) - A New Hampshire youth was seen as bright and hardworking like his immigrant parents.

Edmond Lo was offered a scholarship to an engineering school. He turned it down, choosing instead to disarm bombs for the Army.

It was a job that cost Lo his life in Iraq.

The 23-year-old staff sergeant, assigned to Fort Hood, was six months into his second tour of duty when a roadside bomb he was working on exploded Saturday.

Lo graduated from Salem, N.H., High School in 2004. He was in the Air Force Junior ROTC program.

The Rochester Institute of Technology offered him a full three-year scholarship.

Lo was the youngest of six children born to parents who emigrated from Hong Kong and became U.S. citizens.

Lo was assigned to the 797th Ordnance Company, 79th Ordnance Battalion based in Fort Hood, Texas.

Funeral services are pending.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-06-16-09 1353EDT