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A 2005 Tecumseh High School graduate who found out last month that his wife is expecting their second child has been killed in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt. Wes Williams, 25, was killed Monday in combat while serving with the Army’s 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, his wife, Krista Williams, said Tuesday.

The Army hadn’t released any details by Tuesday evening, but it’s believed Wes Williams, who grew up in Park Layne, was killed by an improvised explosive device, Krista Williams said.

He leaves behind a 1-year-old daughter, Faith, and his wife, who’s eight weeks pregnant.

“I was just told last night I lost my best friend,” Krista Williams explained. “I’m now a single mother with two kids.”

While funeral arrangements are pending, Krista Williams said she’ll be picking up her husband’s body from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Thursday — the same day as the couple’s fourth wedding anniversary.

“He died doing what he loved,” she said.

A veteran of two tours in Iraq, Wes Williams deployed Nov. 15 to Afghanistan.

“He’s a great soldier and was with a great group of guys,” said Krista Williams, a 2006 graduate of Tecumseh High School.

But, she added, “It’s not like you plan on something like this happening.”

Krista Williams saw her husband via Skype last weekend — the first time they’d been able to do that since this most recent deployment began.

“This deployment was harder for him,” she said. “The last two, we didn’t have our daughter and I wasn’t pregnant. It was just he and I.”

Wes Williams is the fourth Clark County man to be killed during the 11-year-old War on Terror.

Marine Lance Cpl. Kevin S. Smith, 20, was killed in 2005 when an improvised explosive device hit his Humvee near the Iraq-Syria border.

Marine Sgt. David Christoff, 25, was killed in 2006 by a roadside bomb while on a foot patrol in Iraq.

Army Cpl. Jeremy Greene, 24, was killed in Afghanistan in 2007 in a noncombat shooting incident.

Wes and Krista Williams met in high school, as members of Tecumseh’s Air Force ROTC program.

“They became an item. Everything Wes did, Krista did,” said Master Sgt. Antonio Ruiz, an aerospace science instructor in the Air Force Junior ROTC program at Tecumseh. “They were always together.”

Ruiz on Tuesday remembered Wes Williams as an award-winning rifle spinner on the ROTC drill team and a likable leader who, by his senior year, had become the program’s recruiting officer in charge, promoting ROTC to incoming freshmen.

“He was a person who would take charge,” Ruiz said. “Wes will truly be missed.”

John and Karen White, who live across the street from Wes Williams’ parents in Park Layne, recalled the soldier as well-behaved growing up.

“It’s very sad,” Karen White said.

Wes Williams joined the Army immediately after high school, and was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.

“He always wanted to be a soldier from the time he was little,” Krista Williams said.

In his spare time, he was addicted to the “Halo” series of video games, his wife said, and was particularly excited by the recent release of “Halo 4.” He also loved tattoos and enjoyed drawing, she said.

But, above all, he was a proud father.

“He was a really, really great father,” Krista Williams said.

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Staff Reporter Mark McGregor contributed to this report.