The first Kansas Army National Guard soldiers to die in combat since the Vietnam War were killed by a car bomb Monday in Baghdad, the Army said Tuesday.

“We’ve got two heroes here,” said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, Kansas’ adjutant general. “They were willing to do what they had to do in an area that’s as dangerous as it gets.”

Killed were Staff Sgt. Clinton Lee Wisdom, 39, of Atchison, and Spc. Don Clary, 21, of Troy, the Kansas Army National Guard said. Both soldiers were members of Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 130th Field Artillery.

The 130th includes about 350 soldiers from across Kansas, including some from Lawrence.

Lawrence resident Betty Ruhlen learned about the deaths in an e-mail she received Tuesday from her son, Sgt. Jon Ruhlen, who is serving with the 130th’s 2nd Battalion in Iraq.

“He just said he’d lost a friend,” Ruhlen said.

Clary and Wisdom died after they positioned their vehicle between a convoy they were assigned to protect and a vehicle driven by insurgents. The insurgents’ vehicle exploded, Guard officials said.

The artillery unit has been providing security and support in Iraq since it deployed in February. The unit, which is based in Atchison, has subunits from various Kansas towns, including Lawrence. The Kansas Adjutant General’s Office in Topeka couldn’t say Tuesday how many of the unit’s members are from Lawrence. Some could have been activated from other Guard units in Lawrence, or they may have joined the unit directly, Guard spokeswoman Joy Moser said.

Jon Ruhlen was not at the scene of the bombing, his mother said. She said she last saw her son when he was home on leave in late September and early October. His unit is scheduled to leave Iraq in February, and for now, she gets calls or e-mails from him every week.

“He’s doing good,” Betty Ruhlen said.

But when she learned of the Kansas deaths, it momentarily unnerved her, she said.

“I kind of went bonkers for about three seconds,” she said. “I have a real strong faith, and I just hang on. I did send an e-mail to my son saying I knew that they were in God’s hands.”

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius asked Kansans to pray for the soldiers’ families and to support all troops in Iraq.

U.S. officials said 10 Americans have died in recent days in Iraq, including three killed Tuesday in fighting near Fallujah. Others died in attacks mounted by guerrillas in and around Baghdad.

The 2nd Battalion, 130th Field Artillery was mobilized for duty in Iraq in November 2003 and trained at Fort Riley before heading overseas.

There are about 1,800 Kansas Army National Guard soldiers deployed or mobilized for duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo. An additional 4,200 soldiers remain in Kansas.

Jane Boeh, the city clerk in Troy, a small northeast Kansas town of 1,200, said she knew the families of both soldiers.

“When it hits home in a small community, you’re all involved with accepting it,” she said.

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Clary graduated from Troy High School in 2001 and attended Benedictine College before his father became ill, said Nick Dannevick, a counselor at Troy High School. He said Clary quit school to find work and help his father, who eventually died. Clary’s father and grandfather both served in the military.

“You’re never ready for anybody to die, even if they are on their death bed for a month,” Dannevick said. “For a young person like this, whose life was basically ahead of him, it’s awful sad.”