MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – U.S. Army Sgt. Carlton A. Clark, 22, of Sharon was killed Sunday when the vehicle he was in was hit by an improvised bomb, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday.

Clark, a member of the 101st Airborne Division, was riding in a Humvee in Baghdad when it was hit by the explosion. Two other soldiers were also killed in the same attack, the Department of Defense said.

Clark, who joined the Army after graduating from South Royalton High School in 2002, had planned to leave the service when his enlistment was up and after his unit returned to the United States, said friend Breezy Fisk, 21, of Sharon.

“I just received an e-mail from him on Aug. 2 saying he was going to be home in 50 days,” Fisk said. “He said he was doing fine and taking care of himself and it was extremely hot.”

Fisk said Clark had planned to move to the Laconia, N.H., area after he left the Army and go to college.

Sean Crowley, 23, now of Lebanon, N.H., said Clark was his best friend.

“He had the biggest heart of anyone I ever knew,” Crowley said.

Crowley said the Army had done good things for Clark.

“It changed him a lot for the better,” Crowley said. “He used to be a lot more quiet and subdued. He was a little bit more outgoing when he got back.”

Clark is survived by his parents, Kathleen and Alan Clark, who live in Sharon but have a South Royalton mailing address.

Vermont National Guard Capt. Jeff Roosevelt said the Guard was working with Clark’s family. He said the family did not wish to talk to the media.

Clark was the second Vermonter in two days to be killed in Iraq. On Friday, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Kurt Dechen of Springfield was killed in Fallujah, a restive city west of Baghdad.

And Clark was the 23rd serviceman with Vermont ties to be killed in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan. A 24th Vermonter died of natural causes in Kuwait.

“This is another tragic day for the state of Vermont. Our hearts go out to the family of Sgt. Carlton Clark,” said Rep. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “The thoughts and prayers of all Vermonters are with his family at this very difficult time.”

In Sunday’s attack all three soldiers from the 101st were riding in a Humvee when the roadside bomb exploded during combat operations, the military said. The three soldiers were combat engineers assigned to the 2nd Brigade Troop Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) from Fort Campbell, Ky.

The other soldiers killed were Staff Sgt. Stephen A. Seale, 25, of Grafton, W.Va., and Spc. Jose Zamora, 24, of Sunland Park, N.M.

The 101st is based at Fort Campbell, which straddles the Kentucky-Tennessee border. More than 150 soldiers from Fort Campbell have been killed since the war in Iraq began in 2003.

Crowley said Clark didn’t talk much about Iraq when he was home on leave a few months ago.

“I know he liked being home better than he liked being over there,” Crowley said.

Fisk said Clark was the second person among her circle of friends killed in Iraq. She also knew Marine Lance Cpl. Jeffery S. Holmes, 20, of Hartford, who was killed on Thanksgiving Day 2004.

AP-ES-08-08-06 1516EDT