Soldier from Plymouth dies in Ky.

It didn't concern him that two wars were raging and that he would surely be deployed into a combat zone. Last June, after graduating from Plymouth South High School, Kevin J. King joined the US Army.

"He was a quiet kid, a proud kid, who just wanted to be a soldier," James King, his father, said in a telephone interview.

This week, the 19-year-old private became one of the Iraq war's casualties, though he wasn't scheduled to deploy there until September. On Wednesday, while taking part in a live-ammunition, room-clearing exercise at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, King was shot by a fellow soldier, his father said. King was wearing a protective Kevlar vest but died shortly afterward at a nearby hospital.

"All he wanted to do was serve his country," his father said. "He really wanted to be the best kid he could be. He didn't care if he was going to Iraq or Afghanistan. He was proud to be in the US Army. We were all proud of him."

Born in Dorchester, King grew up in Plymouth and studied plumbing at Plymouth South High. He was a member of Company B, Second Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment of the First Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

His father said the family is not questioning the account they have received from the Army. "I know this is just an accident," he said.

An Army spokesman could not be reached for comment.

King's twin brother, Michael, plans to join the Navy this summer, his father said.

In addition to his father and brother, Kevin King leaves his mother, Theresa of Plymouth; his sister, Lauren of Austin, Texas; and another brother, David of Plymouth.

Funeral arrangements were not complete yesterday.