A month after he returned home from war, the memory of bomb blasts can still set Sgt. 1st Class Shayne Beckert's nerves buzzing.

But it's the bond he formed with an Iraqi man, and his friend's violent death, that keeps the North Dakota National Guard soldier awake at night.

"I haven't slept over six hours a night since I've been back, just thinking about him," Beckert said recently as he pored over photos of his Iraq duty with a fellow guardsman, Capt. Grant Wilz. "It's just something that's been nagging on my mind."

Beckert and Wilz, both of Bismarck, are members of the North Dakota Guard's 141st Engineer Combat Battalion, whose 475 soldiers had the dangerous mission of clearing bombs from military roads near three bases in north-central Iraq.

Along the way, they met an Iraqi man who became a trusted friend and a gracious host, as well as a reliable source of information about insurgent attacks.

Beckert and Wilz believe that cooperation cost their friend his life. And the two soldiers say they won't find peace until the man's six children and his pregnant wife are safely in the United States.

"He became like a brother to us, and we wanted to make sure he and his family were safe," Wilz said.

When Beckert and Wilz returned home in mid-February, they were released to their families and given time to work back into civilian life. But the two guardsmen knew their work was just beginning.

They've adopted the Iraqi family's safety aa their new mission, making appearances on local news programs and radio talk shows to spread the word and solicit donations.

Beckert and Wilz refuse to use the family's name publicly until they reach the United States, fearful that terrorists will find the information in news reports and use it to track them down.

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., has helped the guardsmen seek asylum for their friends. He believes fears about the family's safety are warranted.

"The family, from what I understand, is essentially hiding out in a basement in Baghdad," Pomeroy said. "All of the stories about the terrible things done to collaborators and their families, I think, supports the notion that there's very good reason to be concerned about their safety."

The family needs U.S. government permission to enter the country. Pomeroy is pursuing that clearance through a process known as "significant public benefit parole," which allows refugees to enter the United States without a visa.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Web site says such a waiver typically is used in court cases and must be requested by a law enforcement agency.

Pomeroy says the Department of Defense has agreed to pursue the visa waivers, although collecting the proper documents and arranging for the family's travel may be difficult.

"We have an individual at the Department of Defense prepared to turn this around quickly," Pomeroy said. "On the other hand, it isn't that we can patch a call through to Baghdad and have a merry old conversation with people."

Defense Department officials contacted by the Associated Press said they were not aware of the case and were unfamiliar with the process of bringing Iraqis to the United States.

For now, Wilz and Beckert are trying to collect enough money to buy the refugee family's plane tickets and cover their living expenses for their first six months in the country.

"I told her I would do everything in my power to get her and her kids to safety," Wilz said of his friend's wife. "I'm going to exhaust every effort I can."

Catholic Charities North Dakota is collecting donations to help pay for the Iraqi family's passage to the United States.

"It's trickling in from people who are giving five, 10 dollars and so on," said the agency's director, Briston Fernandes. "Primarily, I think, because of the story involved with this particular family."

Beckert and Wilz say they have no doubt that their Iraqi friend was killed for passing information to U.S. forces. The man had survived several previous attempts on his life, including an attack with a relatively sophisticated bomb, Wilz said.

"To have access to those materials to produce a remote detonated IED (improvised explosive device), I don't think it was just a family feud," he said.

In the end, Beckert and Wilz say, their ally was tracked down by a gang of insurgents who dragged him from his pickup and shot him dozens of times. The killers pulled the man's 11-year-old son out of the vehicle to make sure he saw it all, the guardsmen said.

"They were pretty cruel to put that picture in their son's head, that this is what happens when you help the Americans," Beckert said.

The two guardsmen say their Iraqi friend always refused their pleas for him to slow down his attempts at gathering intelligence. Nevertheless, they feel some responsibility for his death.

They believe their Iraqi comrade would have found another channel to help U.S. forces if they hadn't come along, and they know that he is not the only Iraqi who risked his life to help Americans.

But Wilz and Beckert also think fate has given them a chance to help a family in need.

"I'm not saying that other people wouldn't do this," Wilz said. "I'm just saying that for some reason, Sgt. Beckert and I came in contact with this family."