David Hyatt, a Greenville native and 1992 Greenville High graduate, was one of four private security agents killed in a roadside bombing near Basra, Iraq, on Wednesday.

Hyatt was employed by Triple Canopy, Inc., a Virginia-based security company doing contract work for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which is responsible for protecting U.S. diplomats at home and abroad, according to an Associated Press report.

Hyatt, 31, had been in Iraq for more than a year, said his wife Robin.

David Hyatt was a Marine reservist for the Mobile-based 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company and had received his activation notice in January 2004, his wife said.

"He was going over there anyway, but we thought it would be much safer for him and allow him to make more money for our children's college fund," said Robin Hyatt, who also is a Greenville native.

Hyatt is survived by his wife and four children, ages 7, 5, 2 and 1. He also is survived by his mother, Faye Sheffield; sister, Tammy Hyatt; father, Ronald Hyatt; and several step-sisters and step-brothers.

Alan Ptak, senior vice president for the Virginia company, identified the other three men working with Hyatt as: Ryan Young of Lewisburg, Tenn.; Robert McCoy of Refugio, Texas, and Robert Pole of Miller Place, N.Y.

Hyatt was expected to return to his Calera home and start a new job in Birmingham, Robin Hyatt said.

"He got a new job this week, and we were going to build a house, too," Robin Hyatt said. "We just bought a lot this week and got the plans for the house. Now I don't know if we'll build that house."

Hyatt's wife said that even though he's been more than 10 years removed from his hometown, Greenville had not left his heart.

"He had a T-shirt that he had from his days of playing football there, and I could not get him to throw it away," she said. "That shirt was tattered, torn and yellowed, but he still wore that shirt."

While living in Greenville, Hyatt worked as a lifeguard at the Beeland Park pool while in high school. After graduation, Hyatt worked for Lee Electric while taking night classes at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College in Greenville to get an associate degree before joining the Marines.

Funeral services for Hyatt are pending his arrival back in the United States, Robin Hyatt said. The memorial service will be held at Calera Baptist Church with interment expected to be in the Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Fla.