My Fox St Louis -- A young soldier with Saint Louis roots is dead, killed while serving in Afghanistan. Now, his family is calling him a hero and is wondering how they will go on without him.

The family of 22 year old Army Private Vince Winston, Junior says he will be buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery with full military honors when his body returns home later this week.

The military says Winston was killed last Thursday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.His family tells Fox 2 Vince had been in the Army for two years and that he was deployed to Afghanistan in July. He was based out of Fort Hood in Texas.

His mother says Vince signed up for the Job Corps in St. Louis after going to high school in Tennessee. Then, he went into the Army. Vince's aunt tells us just days before he was killed, he told her that he feared he wouldn't make it home. His mother, Angie Little, is still in shock.

"He wanted to get off the streets and that's why he wanted to go- he wanted to make something of himself. And look what happened. God he was so young- just 22 years old. He was such a good kid," explained a tearful Little.

Vince's aunt, Betty Little, also with tears in her eyes, told us, "He said if anything happen to me take care of my brother. I said I will Vincent; I said but we're not going to think like that right now. He said make sure you take care of my brother. I said I will Vincent and we got the news Friday morning that he was dead."

Vince's family says he was supposed to be deployed to Afghanistan for a year and that it was his first deployment. Vince was the oldest of three boys.

His body is expected to arrive at Lambert Airport on Wednesday. Funeral arrangements are still pending.