CHICOPEE, Mass. (AP) – With three sons in the Marines, all of whom have served in the Middle East, Lydia H. Maloney has come to accept the risks her children have had to face.

That did not make the loss of one her sons easier to take.

Marine Capt. John W. Maloney, 36, of Chicopee died on Thursday when the Humvee he was in struck a roadside bomb while the unit he commanded conducted combat operations near Ar Ramadi, Iraq, according to the Pentagon. A Marine lance corporal also died in the incident.

“I pretty much accept it. These are the vocations they had chosen,” Lydia Maloney told The Republican of Springfield. “I understand the dangerousness of their jobs, particularly the one who lost his life.”

Capt. Maloney was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, his unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

One of Maloney’s other sons, Jason Maloney, is a Marine first lieutenant who served in Iraq from September until March. He is now stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

When Capt. Maloney first arrived in Iraq in March, he was able to locate his brother and spend a couple of hours with him. It was the last time they saw each other, their mother said.

Lydia Maloney’s third son, Justin G. Clark, is a lance corporal with the Marine Reserves. His unit has not been activated, but he was previously deployed to the Middle East for six months in 2003.

“(Capt. Maloney) did the best that he could, and it’s Marines like him that enabled other Marines to come home safely,” Clark said. “We all love him, and we’ll all miss him.”

Capt. Maloney joined the Marines in 1987, one year after he graduated from Chicopee High School, where he played football and baseball. He was also a veteran of the first Gulf War to liberate Kuwait.

“We’re certainly very proud of what he has done with his life, even beyond the military,” Lydia Maloney said.

Capt. Maloney was an “avid outdoor sports person” who enjoyed rugby, skiing, baseball and football, his mother said.

In addition to his mother, he leaves behind his wife, Michelle Maloney; children McKenna, 1 and Nathaniel, 6; his father and stepmother, John and Anita Maloney; and his mother’s longtime companion, George Clark.

The family is planning a wake and funeral in western Massachusetts, with burial in Arlington National Cemetery.

Maloney is the third serviceman from Massachusetts to die of combat-related injuries this month.

Green Beret Staff Sgt. Christopher N. Piper, 43, of Marblehead died on Thursday of injuries sustained in Afghanistan on June 3. Army National Guard Spc. Michael J. Kelley of Scituate, 26, died June 8 during a mortar attack on his base in Afghanistan.

At least 33 Massachusetts natives have died in Iraq or Afghanistan.