JACKSON — Army Staff Sgt. Jerry Clark Burge Jr. will be buried Thursday in Picayune, the tiny South Mississippi town he called home before embarking on a military career that took him around the world and into Iraq.

Burge, 39, was a career soldier who had already received a Purple Heart for injuries sustained in a prior deployment when he was killed in Iraq on April 4, his family said.

Burge and Cpl. Joseph H. Cantrell IV, 23, of Ashland, Ky., both died when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle, the Department of Defense said.

“The world lost an excellent human being. He was a soldier and he knew the risks, but he was willing to take the risks,” said Burge’s aunt, Bobbie Kennedy. “I believe that this nation lost a great man. He was a hero. We just brought him (his body) from the plane a little while ago and a lot of our town turned out to receive him.”

Funeral services are set for 1 p.m. Thursday at McDonald Funeral Home in Picayune. Burial will follow at the New Palestine Cemetery.

Burge was a demolitions expert and engineer and had received a Purple Heart for injuries he sustained in an explosion when he was in Kosavo. He was on his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed, Kennedy said.

Kennedy described Burge as a tough soldier and leader, but a gentle father of three who loved to laugh and spend time with his family.

“He was just an all around good guy,” Kennedy said. “He had a lot of friends and he came from a big family. I’m just thankful to have been a part of his life. We loved him very much.”

Burge and Cantell were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

Burge is the second soldier from Picayune to die in Iraq.

Army Staff Sgt. Clint D. Ferrin, 31, also of Picayune, was killed in March of 2004 with three other soldiers when their Humvee hit a roadside bomb in Baghdad. At least 52 soldiers and Marines with strong Mississippi ties have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an unofficial Associated Press Count.