Mountain Grove, Mo. ? A soldier from south-central Missouri was killed this week in Iraq.

Cpl. Dallas Kerns, 21, died Monday of wounds suffered in an attack in Anbar province, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.

Kerns was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, and was based at Twentynine Palms, Calif. He enlisted in the Marines in 2001 and was deployed to Iraq last February.

The department said Kerns had been recommended for a Purple Heart and that he had also received several other honors, including the Combat Action Ribbon, the Presidential Unit Citation, the National Defense Service Medal and the War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.

The department said Cpl. Kerns was survived by his father, Randy Feltner, of Seneca, Kan., and his mother Connie Kerns, of Springfield.