The 24-year-old Schofield Barracks lieutenant who was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his Humvee in Iraq was a leader “who just couldn’t stand by and watch others do the job,” his sister said today.

First Lt. Daniel Hyde, of Modesto, Calif., was killed Saturday in Samarra while on patrol with his platoon, Andrea Hyde told the Star-Bulletin this morning.

He was the third soldier from the 25th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team to die in Iraq since the unit was sent there in October. He was assigned as a platoon leader in the 25th Infantry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment.

It was Hyde’s first combat deployment since he graduated from West Point in 2007, ranking 23rd in his class, said Andrea Hyde in a telephone interview from Modesto.

She said her brother had been accepted to all three military academies.

“He wanted to do something other people couldn’t do,” she added. 

“He was a type of person who rather do it instead of depending on others since he knew he could it well.”

Hyde lettered in three varsity sports in high school — football, basketball and golf — for three years, his sister said, and was elected student body president twice.

“He had a lot of friends in high school. He was just so very thoughtful,” she said.

The 3rd Brigade will hold a memorial service for Hyde in Iraq Thursday. Hyde was the 3rd Brigade’s third death since it arrived in Tikrit in October.

Pfc. Christopher W. Lotter, 20, of Chester Heights, Pa., died in Balad  Dec. 31 of wounds he suffered when he was shot by enemy forces while standing guard as a gunner in his Humvee.

On Jan. 11, Pvt. Sean P. McCune, 20, of Euless, Texas, died in Samarra, of injuries sustained from a non-combat related incident. The Army has not released details of his death except to say it was an accidental shooting.

Funeral arrangements in California are pending.