BARNWELL -- The grandparents of missing Army Sgt. George Edward Buggs are unsure whether the boy they helped raise in this rural Southern town is alive or dead. The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday that Buggs, 31, is missing in the war in Iraq.

"He's missing, that's what two soldiers came out and told us," said grandfather George Buggs, 83, a retired truck driver eager to talk about his missing grandson. "We want to hear a straight report, whether he was killed or captured."

The Army notification team "didn't say what he was doing, didn't say what mission he was on," the elderly man said. The family was notified Saturday.

Buggs is assigned to the 3rd Forward Support Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart, Ga. He was reported missing in fighting on March 23.

"Just not knowing whether he's alive or dead is the hardest part," said Wanda Buggs. She and George Buggs are married but separated and have a 12-year-old son. "He's worried about his dad not seeing him grow up," she said.

Wanda Buggs, 28, says she met her husband when they were teenagers and he played tuba in the marching band. "He loved to watch TV and cook -- pasta was one of his specialties," she said.

Buggs' grandparents helped raise the boy after his parents divorced when he was about 7. They saw him graduate from Barnwell High School; then he went straight into the Army. The last time the couple saw Buggs was Christmas Eve.

"I've been pretty tore up," said grandmother Florine Buggs, as she sat on a worn couch in a mobile home off a dirt road. "He never give us no trouble. He was a good kid."

The couple said Buggs took pride in himself, especially his looks.

"He loved to primp," his grandmother said. "He loved his skin. He really took care of it."

The missing soldier is a nephew of Columbus Buggs, a Times and Democrat carrier who lives in Norway.

"I went on a Web site tonight (Tuesday), and he is not on the list of those deceased," Columbus Buggs said. "I am going to keep an eye on the Web. Right now, all we can do is pray."

One of Buggs' high school friends remembers him as a quiet youth, mostly keeping to himself.

Katrina Roberts, 27, said she and Buggs would hang out together at neighborhood cookouts and laugh.

"He was a very nice person," said Roberts, who lives a few doors down from Buggs' mother at a local apartment complex in this town of about 5,000. Roberts offered Buggs' mother some advice when the two spoke Monday.

"Be glad he's MIA instead of hearing he's dead," said Roberts, adding that she has many friends who are stationed at Fort Stewart and are among those on the front lines. "I don't think none of my friends are coming home because of the way it's looking."

Buggs' father was at work Tuesday, but the grandmother said her son had been there supporting her since the family found out the soldier was missing.

"My son keeps telling me, 'Momma, there's nothing you can do but pray,' " she said, adding that it's hard to keep that hope alive. "You know if he's missing in action, he's probably gone."

But the grandfather, sitting in a recliner with an extra cushion beneath him, tells her not to say that and the two briefly argue about their grandson's whereabouts.

"We just really want to find out what happened," the grandfather said.

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