Fort Riley ? A Fort Riley soldier from California has died as a result of injuries suffered when a homemade bomb detonated in November in Iraq.

The Department of Defense said Thursday that Sgt. Ryan C. Young, 21, of Corona, Calif., died Tuesday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., of wounds he received Nov. 8 in Fallujah when his vehicle was hit by the bomb. He was an infantryman assigned to A Company, 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, which had been deployed to Iraq since September.

Young joined the Army in July 2000, and had been stationed at Fort Riley since January 2001, a post spokeswoman said.

Young was the 19th soldier from Fort Riley to die in the war in Iraq since April. Fort Riley reported 18 deaths during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and more than 3,000 during the Vietnam War.

The news comes as the post continues its holiday preparations.

Maj. James Buczkowski, spokesman for the post, said the Christmas events planned for today were part of taking care of the soldiers during a difficult time.

“Although the soldiers are deployed, the families are back here. We try to maintain normalcy,” he said.

The arrival of Santa and holiday music by the Fort Riley Middle School Band and Fort Riley Combined Choir is in contrast to the memorial services for soldiers killed in Iraq in recent weeks. In an effort to bring families and soldiers together, albeit briefly, the post will link Fort Riley with deployed soldiers through video teleconferencing.

Lighting of the 35-foot tree in front of Fort Riley’s headquarters was scheduled for 4:45 p.m. today, which will be early Saturday in Iraq. The tree has been decorated with yellow ribbons since May.