PAINESVILLE, Ohio — Staff Sgt. Kyle Robert McKee was the kind of guy that got along with anyone, explained his father, Steve, and his brother, Shane.

“We've always felt that he was kind of like a, almost like a chameleon, no matter what circumstance he was in or what, what he was doing, he would fit right in and he would blend,” said Steve McKee.

“You could plant that guy anywhere in the world, you could put anywhere and he instantaneously just fit in, he could mesh to any situation,” said Shane.

From an early age, Kyle knew what he wanted his career to be, said Becky Bartholomew, who had him in gym class at Riverside High School in Painesville.

“Kyle played football, but then he didn't play football senior year. And it was because he had spent the summer at, I think it was at the recruiters — our local recruiters doing bootcamp, getting prepared because he was going to enlist as soon as he graduated and he was preparing himself. He knew that's what he wanted to do,” said Bartholomew.

He enlisted in the Army in 2003, continuing his family's long legacy of military service.

“I have a photograph of him standing at a little pedal car with a camouflage uniform on and a hat. And even at the age of three and four, he was very much into the military,” said Steve.

Staff Sgt. Mckee arrived in Egypt in July of this year. He is one of five American soldiers killed in a helicopter crash on a peacekeeping mission. The incident is under investigation, but authorities believe it is related to a mechanical malfunction.

“I am proud of what he is and what he’s done and everything he’s gone through, it’s just hard to wrap my head around that he’s made it through so much and for this to be the way that he goes,” said Shane McKee.

Staff Sgt. Mckee leaves behind a wife, two young sons, and an unborn baby girl.

“Well, the 11 year old, he had dog tags made and told his 3-year-old brother that if he's not around, he has to be the man of the family,” said Steve through teary eyes.

“My brother loved those kids more than anything. My nephew just idolized his dad,” added Shane.

Gone, but never forgotten. A week before the helicopter crash, Steve said Kyle finished building a completely functional bar in Egypt they call the “Landing Zone,” where his fellow servicemen can hangout.

“I asked him, 'What kind of beer do you have?’ And he goes, 'I got every kind of beer that you can think of from every country in the world.' He said, 'Because we have — it’s a multinational force.' And he said, so I go in. And he said, 'I take care of the guys that are there.' And he said, 'they take care of me,'" said.

“If you ever had the privilege of meeting Kyle, you will never forget him. And we will be sure at Riverside in the district that his legacy lives on, not only at the wall of honor, but, there's students that were in his class or there were students at Riverside that are now teachers, and I'm sure they'll talk about Kyle in their classes so that our elementary students, our middle school and our high school students will know what he sacrificed,” said Bartholomew.