Capt. Christopher S. Cash 36, of Winterville, N.C.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry, Army National Guard, Jacksonville, N.C.; killed June 24 when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle came under attack by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in Baqubah, Iraq.∼ 1985 Old Orchard Beach High School graduate remembered for his athletic excellence and dedication to the military died of head wounds in Iraq Thursday after being shot in an ambush. Capt. Christopher Cash,was on patrol in Baqubah, with fellow members of the North Carolina National Guard when Iraqi insurgents fired at their armored vehicle in the early morning attack. Cash and his unit, North Carolina's Army National Guard 30th Heavy Separate Brigade, went to Iraq in March to help train local police. Cash lived outside Fort Bragg, N.C., with his wife, Dawn,two sons, Christopher and Matthew. Nancy Kelley, offered support Friday afternoon, said she was comforted by the thought that her son lived the life he had envisioned. "The only consolation we have right now is, he died doing what he wanted to do," she told U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine. Cash moved to Old Orchard Beach from Rhode Island when he was 8 years old and grew up in the two-story red house on Cascade Road On Friday. Cash excelled in track and field and cross-country at Old Orchard Beach High. He won several state titles in track events, and qualified for the Junior National Olympics in 1984. Kline said he never pegged his high school buddy for a military career but, in retrospect, said Cash showed a talent for leadership among his high school peers that helped explain his rise from private to captain. "He took charge of a situation and made it fun," Kline said. "He was an outstanding student and he was an outstanding athlete," Snow said. "He excelled in whatever he did. He was nothing but a class act." Just five days before Cash died, Snow got a letter from him describing how proud he was to be serving the country. Cash enlisted in the Army in 1987 while on vacation in Texas. He completed 4 years in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg as an Army Ranger and continued his 17-year military career in the Army National Guard. After leaving active duty, Cash earned a bachelor's degree in fitness education and a master's degree in exercise physiology. He ran a large fitness facility in Greenville, N.C., and recently took up a new hobby that seemed ideal for someone with his energy and determination - running marathons. Kelley said she supported her son's decision to live a military life. She said Cash fully believed in what he was doing in Iraq.