James R. Davenport hadn't yet graduated from high school when he enlisted in the Marines on Jan. 12, 2005.

"I'm heartbroken but proud that he was doing exactly what he wanted," Tammie Davenport of Danville, Ind., said yesterday of her 20-year-old son, who was killed Wednesday in Iraq while conducting combat operations in Anbar province. "God said it was time to come home."

Davenport was among three Kane'ohe Bay Marines killed in Iraq last week who were identified by the military yesterday.

Davenport and Pvt. Heath D. Warner, 19, of Canton, Ohio, were killed on the same day, the Department of Defense said yesterday.

A third Marine, Lance Cpl. Joshua C. Alonzo of Dumas, Texas, also was killed on Wednesday, the military had said previously.

The Defense Department also said yesterday that Kane'ohe-based Marine Lance Cpl. Jeromy D. West, 20, of Aguanaga, Calif., was killed Saturday in combat in Anbar province.

Tammie Davenport said her son's body was brought back to the United States yesterday and that he will be buried next week on the family's farm in Anderson, S.C.

She and her husband, Clifford, plan to move back to South Carolina when he retires soon from General Motors.

The family is patriotic, Davenport said, noting that her son's grandfathers were both World War II Army veterans and her husband served in the Navy in Vietnam. Her surviving son, Daniel, is in the Army Reserve.

"We love this country and believe if you can't defend it, you shouldn't live in it," Davenport said. "Joining the Marines was totally James' choice."

Her son deployed to Iraq on Sept. 13 and had called home several times. Davenport said she last heard from him at 4 a.m. (Indiana time) a week ago today.

"We talked for about a half hour and the last thing he said to me was 'I love you.' It means so much to me," she said.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.