DENVER -- Another Colorado soldier has died supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Sgt. Luis R. Reyes, 26, of Aurora, Colo., died en route to Ali Al Salem, Kuwait, on Nov. 18, when the bus in which he was riding rolled over. When the accident occurred, he and other members of the 947th were en route to catch a connecting flight, which would have transported them to Iraq.

Reyes was a technical engineer with the Army National Guard's 947th Engineer Company.

The 947th is based out of Colorado Springs, Colo., with detachments in La Junta and Durango. According to its Web site, it creates roads, ditches and trails for military missions.

Reyes was just mobilized on Sept. 7 for a 15-month deployment.

His wife, Christina, now has to raise their 4-year-old daughter and 5-month-old son, Nikko, alone.

"Four military personel came to the door Friday. They let me know what was going on, that my husband passed away," Reyes said.

She wanted her husband to be remembered as a loving family man who had a passion for military service.

"He was proud of what he did. He was proud to be a soldier," she said.

The two met on the first day of school when they were 14-year-old freshmen at Montbello High School. They would be married seven years in January.

"I'm shocked. I didn't think I'd be burying my husband. He's 26. So I didn't prepare for this at all and I don't know how to tell my kids we're gonna be OK," she said. "I just told her her daddy had to to go to heaven with Jesus and that her Daddy couldn't come home, can't hold her or kiss her anymore."

Reyes said she will raise her two children the way he wanted them to be raised.

"He was gonna be a strict dad to his daughter. He wanted his son to be a ball player," Reyes said.

She said the last weekend before he went overseas was Halloween and somehow she felt he knew something was going to happen.

"The day before this happened, I got a card. The day after, we got a package. He sent Christmas presents for the kids," Reyes said.

While at Montbello High School, Ricardo Reyes was an ROTC cadet, serving as the Cadet Logistics Officer. After graduating, Reyes enlisted in the Colorado Army National Guard in 1997.

Reyes was awarded the Army Achievement Medal for superior proficiency in his performance of duties and awarded the Expert Marksmanship badge for both his skills with a rifle and a grenade.

The military said the bus crash victims were "evacuated by air and ground ambulances" to nearby military facilities. No details were provided about the extent of injuries.

The bus was carrying 30 U.S. soldiers. The driver, identified as a "third country national" under contract with the military, was also injured.

Sgt. Mike Parrott Buried

Meanwhile, a 49-year-old soldier from Colorado was among two soldiers killed in Iraq who were buried this weekend in western North Carolina.

Canton native Staff Sgt. Mike Parrott, who worked in construction at Colorado State University, lived in Timnath, Colo. with his wife Meg Corwin. He was killed Nov. 10 when he was shot by a sniper as he patrolled an Iraqi highway.

Children, older couples, store merchants and families watched the procession that rolled down Canton's Main Street Saturday to the funeral honoring Parrott. Observers stood with rights hands covering hearts as the line streamed past.

"I didn't know him," said Deborah Wildes of Bethel, who was holding an American flag on the sidewalk outside the barber shop where she works. "We're here to support the family."

His aunt, Colleen Cody of Asheville, said she remembered Parrott as a small boy patrolling a creek near his home for evil-doers.

"He wanted to rid the world of bad people," she said.

Parrott and Corwin, who teaches political science at CSU, ran marathons together. They ran on the Appalachian Trail and in the Rockies.

"He started the race," family friend David Burrell said at the funeral service. "And he finished well."

Parrott was a member of the 28th Infantry of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, stationed at Camp Habbaniyah, near Ramadi in Iraq.

In Yadkin County, friends, family and a Marine honor guard dressed in white dress caps and dark jackets gathered Sunday to bury Lance Cpl. Daniel Freeman Swaim with military honors.

Swaim, 19, was also killed Nov. 10 while searching for insurgents outside an Iraqi town near the Syrian border. Family members said he was killed by an explosive device.

Swaim joined the Marine Corps last summer after graduating from Forbush High School with high honors. He began his first tour of duty in Iraq in August.

More than 175 Coloradans have died since March 2003 in Iraq.