APPLETON – A 21-year-old soldier from Appleton was killed Sunday by a roadside bomb that detonated near his military vehicle while he was on patrol in Baghdad.

Spc. Joshua U. Humble was one of two soldiers killed by the blast. Both Humble and Spc. Clay Farr, 21, of Bakersfield, Calif., were cavalry scouts with the 1st Squadron, 71st Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, which is headquartered at Fort Drum, N.Y.

They both joined the Army in January 2004 and deployed to Iraq in August, according to a statement from Fort Drum.

Humble, whose mother lives in Appleton, attended Camden Hills Regional High School from 1999 to 2002.

Appleton selectman Taylor Vaughan said Humble’s family informed him that they preferred to keep their grieving private and would not make any public statements.

“We’re sorry to hear this; our hearts go out to this young man’s family,” Vaughan said Wednesday. He said the Board of Selectmen voted Tuesday to donate the family a burial plot in the Pine Grove Cemetery on East Sennebec Road.

Major Michael Backus, public affairs officer of the Maine National Guard, said Humble’s family was adamant in their desire to keep their privacy. When the family was notified of about his death soon after the blast, they instructed the Army not to release any personal information, he said.

“I am not authorized to disclose any of that information,” Backus said Wednesday. “We are here to provide assistance as necessary to the family and make sure that their wishes are protected.”

Shortly after Farr enlisted, his 16-year-old fiancee was killed in a car accident. That didn’t stop him from delaying his training, his family said. “He loved defending his country. He was very patriotic,” his father, Patrick Farr, told The Bakersfield Californian. “When the war first started, he was in high school. If I would have let him enlist at that age, and the Army would have taken him, he would have gone right then.”

Farr graduated in 2003 from Centennial High School in Bakersfield. Although he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, a casket of mementos will be buried next to his fiancee.

“He would not have been happy doing something behind the lines. He’s the type that wanted to be right out in the action,” his mother, Carrol Alderete, told the newspaper.

Because the Humble family specifically asked for privacy, a spokesperson for Gov. John Baldacci said Wednesday the governor would not be issuing a statement.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe and U.S. Rep. Tom Allen did express their condolences in press releases issued from their offices Wednesday.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of Joshua Humble, who died serving his country in Iraq,” said Snowe. “We cannot adequately express our gratitude for his sacrifice and that of his family, but his courage will forever be remembered. I stand ready to assist Joseph’s family in any way I can.”

Allen also expressed sorrow.

“Another Maine service member has made the ultimate sacrifice, and we extend our heartfelt sympathy to his family and all who knew and loved Joshua Humble,” said Allen. “His death during the recent upsurge in violence puts a Maine face on the chaos and imminent danger that our troops and the Iraqi people experience on a daily basis. We all owe a tremendous debt to the men and women who have fought, suffered crippling wounds or given their lives in service to our nation. The greatest and most important step we can take to honor them is to redouble our efforts to disengage our forces from Iraq as swiftly and safely as possible.”