Army National Guard Sgt. Arnold Duplantier II, 26, Sacramento; Killed in a Sniper Attack

When Sgt. Arnold Duplantier II came home on what would be his final military leave, he had something special he needed to do: replenish his toy supply.

The Army National Guardsman was an avid toy collector. But when he went to the store that day six weeks ago, the sack of baubles and knickknacks he toted back to his Sacramento home was for Iraqi children, not for himself.

“It made all the soldiers over there smile to see the kids happy with something so small as a yo-yo,” said his wife, Tanya. “Whenever they were patrolling, he would have a stash in his Humvee.”

Duplantier, 26, was killed in a June 22 sniper attack in Baghdad. Military officials told his family that he was hit by small-arms fire while patrolling the roof of a hotel frequented by Westerners. A bullet went through his armpit and he died instantly, his wife said.

Duplantier enjoyed showing off to friends and family his collection of model cars and Barbie dolls from past eras.

“He was just a big kid,” said Tanya, 25. “At one point, we had a whole storage unit filled with toys. He was especially big on Hot Wheels. We have the Barbie dolls on a shelf, and our 5-year-old daughter knows she can’t play with them because they’re special.”

Handing out kiddie gewgaws in the combat zone was Duplantier’s way of showing friendship to Iraqis.

“He wanted to learn as much about the culture and the people as he could,” she said. “He believed if he respected their ways, God would watch over them and make people less angry on both sides.”

Though he was serious when he needed to be, he was “an all-around funny guy, someone who would make you laugh,” Tanya said.

But the defining characteristic of his personality was that he showed respect to others.

“When he went somewhere, he would open the door for whoever was behind us, even if he didn’t know them,” his wife recalled. “He would make eye contact with them and say, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ ”

Growing up in Sacramento, Duplantier was reared from the age of 12 by his father, Tanya said. He attended McClatchy High School and earned a general equivalency diploma before joining the National Guard in 1999. He wanted direction in his life after finding himself at loose ends in his teenage years, his wife said.

Tall, lean and fond of shaving his head, the full-time active-duty Guardsman loved the soldier life and planned to make a career of it. He was assigned to the Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry Regiment in Auburn, Calif. He was going to enlist in the regular Army after his expected return from Iraq in December or January.

“He enjoyed being out patrolling,” Tanya said. “He was an Army guy; he was meant to do that. He wanted to be home, but he understood he needed to be there [in Iraq]. He was patriotic and serving his country.”

Duplantier left home for combat training in August and arrived in Iraq in February. To keep in touch, the couple exchanged text messages almost daily on their cellphones. “Sometimes we would text message each other all day,” often chatting about their daughter, Isabel, Tanya recalled. “He doted on her. He would get down on the floor and play with dolls, just so he could play with her.”