OVERLAND PARK, KAN. - Daniel Cox had big plans for the future. The Army corporal told his family that he couldn't wait to get out of Afghanistan in a few weeks and return home to Kansas to stay.

It was supposed to be the happiest time in his family's life, but on September 12th a roadside bomb ended those dreams forever.

Cox's sister, Jennifer Merz, says that she couldn't wait to introduce her newborn daughter Madison to the returning hero.

"I know he was proud of her and so excited to see her," said Merz. But he'd never get the chance.

"I heard her crying and I didn't know what happened," said Andrew Merz, Jennifer's husband. "She could barely speak."

Corporal Cox was killed when his Army unit came under attack from a roadside bomb and small arms fire. Cox's enlistment was going to be up in three months, and he had plans to propose to his girlfriend, Liza.

"He kept saying it was really bad and wanted to get home," said Andrew Merz. "He wanted to get out here. He didn't have to tell us that. Maybe in some way he was trying to prepare us that this is getting really bad."

Cox was laid to rest in his hometown of Parsons, Kansas, with full military honors on Monday. Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff this week in honor of Cox and another soldier from Arkansas City who died in Afghanistan on the same day.

And although he never got to meet his young niece, Andrew and Jennifer Merz say that their daughter will grow up knowing that her uncle was a true American hero.

"Madison is just young enough that you can hold her and cuddle her and know that there's hope for the future," said Jennifer.