BOSTON -- When he got back from Iraq on leave last week, Sgt. Jason Race knew his time was short, so the Quincy soldier got to work.

Last Saturday, Race proposed to his fiancée, Kimberly Welch, and after a seven-day engagement, the couple got hitched in an Independence Day wedding on Saturday.

“He came back from Fort Drum and he had his duffel bag on the floor and he was in the bathroom and he was ready to shave,” said Welch, recalling the proposal. “I reached down to his bag and I saw a box and I picked it up, and he was down on one knee.”

Race and Welch were married in a small, outdoor ceremony on the edge of Blacks Creek in Quincy in the morning.

“It’s definitely one day I won’t forget, so I don’t have to worry about forgetting the anniversary,” said Race. “It’s something that’ll probably stick in my mind.”

The couple plan to spend their honeymoon in Maine before Race returns to Iraq on July 13 for what Welch hopes is his last tour of duty overseas.