Army Spc. William R. Emanuel IV, 19, Stockton; Killed in Mortar Attack

At a Christmas Eve party last year, William River Emanuel IV beat all competitors by eating 16 peanut butter-covered and syrup-drenched pancakes.

“He could really put them away,” his mother, Jane Emanuel, said with a laugh.

The memory stood in contrast to the serious business her son chose one year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

His sister, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Tiffany Emanuel, was serving at the time, and, as soon as he could, the then 17-year-old boy joined the Army in 2002.

In February, the Stockton resident was deployed to Iraq. Although he called and wrote often, he didn’t tell his mother much about the war.

“I was a single parent and I worried a lot,” she said. “I had lost a child before, and he knew he and his sister were the world to me, and they were very protective of me. I wanted them to be happy, but as a mother, I always had that fear. I wanted them to come home, to keep them safe with me.”

Two weeks ago, Emanuel left a message on her voicemail, telling her that he was sending money, that he was fine and that he loved his family.

His mother tried to recover the message from her answering machine Thursday, a week after the 19-year-old Army specialist and four other soldiers were killed by insurgents July 8.

“I try to listen to it, but I can’t get it back,” his mother said, weeping. “I don’t even have my last message from my son. I’ll never hear his voice again.”

Emanuel was killed when insurgents attacked a military headquarters with mortar rounds in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad. The five soldiers killed were members of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany.

Emanuel was described by his family as a hard worker who mowed neighbors’ lawns, chopped their firewood and watched their pets. While in high school, he worked for a landscaping business and bused tables at a restaurant. He loved skydiving and sailing, but especially baseball, organizing home run derbies with cousins and friends at local schools.

He exhibited that sense of fun from early on, relatives said.

“I remember he woke us up one morning yelling like Tarzan and swinging from a curtain,” said his aunt Jean Shipley. “He was maybe 2 years old.”

She said her nephew would call from Iraq and tell her that he didn’t want to come home yet.

“He said, ‘I’m having an adventure and my job’s not done,’ ” Shipley said.

He did say that, along with the very hot climate, he felt sad about the poverty and destruction he saw in Iraq, she said.

“He said it broke his heart,” Shipley said.

Jane Emmanuel said her son “believed in the cause he was fighting for.”

He was close to his sister, and joining the service gave him a sense of protecting her, his mother said.

“His sister wanted to go to Iraq too, to be with him. But it was too late,” she said. “She picked out his headstone and burial plot, and took care of his services.... He was very important to us, and his family was very important to him.”

Emanuel was buried with full military honors Friday at San Joaquin Catholic Cemetery in Stockton.