Topeka ? A 21-year-old soldier from Derby was killed in Iraq while on guard duty, the Department of Defense said Friday.

The Pentagon said Spc. Joseph F. Herndon II was shot while on duty in Hawijah, Iraq. Herndon was assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division (Light) from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. No other information about his death was available.

Herndon is the 12th Kansan to be killed.

Herndon joined the Army in 2002.

The soldier’s wife, Melaine, lives in Hawaii.

Herndon is the third soldier from Derby killed in Iraq.