Memorial for Fort Irwin soldier

A photo of Sgt. Guadalupe Cervantes-Ramirez and his wife, Amber, sits at the front of the Fort Irwin chapel Wednesday following a memorial ceremony for the sergeant.

Cervantes-Ramirez died April 23 following a vehicle rollover in Kuwait. Cervantes-Ramirez, 26, joined the Army in 2001 and received an Army Commendation Medal with Valor for entering a burning vehicle while deployed last June to attempt to remove a soldier who had been killed in an IED attack.

"It was not until other soldiers pulled him away that he was forced to release his hold on the soldier's body," the sergeant's batallion commander, Lt. Col. Richard Ellis, said Wednesday.

Cervantes-Ramirez, "Lupe" to his friends, was on deployment to Kuwait with Fort Irwin's Second Transportation Company when he died. He is survived by his wife, his parents, and two children, Amy, 7, and Guadalupe Michael, 4.