Manuel Ruiz Jr., 21, was two weeks into his second tour of duty as a Navy Corpsman who treated wounded Marines, his mother, Lisa Ruiz, said.
Military officials gave no cause for the crash of the CH-46 Sea Knight near Fallujah in Anbar province, about 20 miles from Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department today announced the death of a Marine from Bel Air.
Cpl. Jennifer Parcell, 20, died Wednesday "while supporting combat operations in Al Anbar province," according to a news release.
She was the 55th Marylander and the fourth woman from the state to be killed in Iraq.
A 2004 graduate of Fallston High School, Parcell followed her older brother into the Marine Corps.
"If you knew her, you loved her. She was a go-getter. She knew what she wanted in life and she was doing what she had to do to achieve that," Parcell's aunt Martha Benton of Aberdeen said.
Parcell joined the Marine Corps in January 2005. Benton said she had wanted to enlist since attending the graduation of her brother, Joseph, at Parris Island. The 24-year-old enlisted in February 2003 and he is returning from his tour to be with family.
The brother and sister were stationed together in Iraq for about a month before their tours of duty separated them, Benton said.
Math was her forte at Fallston High School, Benton said. She said Parcell always enjoyed the water, including boating and scuba diving. She also liked yoga and music.
Parcell was assigned to Combat Logistics Regiment 3, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Okinawa, Japan. She had earned six medals, and Benton said Marine Corps officials told the family Parcell may be eligible for a Purple Heart.
Ruiz was a three-year veteran who had followed his parents into the Navy, his mother said, enlisting soon after he graduated from Col. Richardson High School in rural Caroline County.
"I just talked to him on the phone a few nights ago," said Lisa Ruiz, who retired after serving 20 years as a Navy information technician. "I knew as soon as there was a knock at the door that it was bad news."
Ruiz was a member of the 2nd Marine Battalion, based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he met his girlfriend, who is also a Navy Corpsman, his mother said.
Lisa Ruiz works for the local post office and her husband, Manuel Sr., now works for a tree service.
In addition to his parents, Ruiz is survived by two younger brothers, 13 and 15, his mother said.
"He was just a wonderful young man who was excited when he graduated to be going to serve his country," said Christine Handy-Collins, principal of Col. Richardson High School.
Ruiz, who graduated in 2003, had been back to the school several times in his dress whites on recruiting tours, said Marjorie Scott, his former art teacher.
"The kids really respected him," she said.
But she remembered the young man they called "Manny" most for his talent as an artist.
"When Manny would pick up a pencil and he would draw, there was so much feeling, so much emotion, so much power in his drawing -- he could make a pencil and paper sing," Scott said.
He planned to continue his studies at the Art Institute of Washington after the service, Scott said. And on a visit last spring, he showed her photos of a mural he was painting on his barracks wall in Iraq.
"So you see, he carried his talent not just through school but in the service," she said.
chris.guy@baltsun.com
The Associated Press contributed to this article.