"It was important to him to make people smile, to make people laugh," said his friend Mark Dunnigan. "He wanted to lighten the atmosphere."

But when he talked on the phone with Raymond a week ago, Dunnigan sensed the concern in his friend's tone of voice.

"He told me it was getting bad over there," Dunnigan said.

Raymond, a specialist in the Army, was killed Tuesday afternoon in Taji, Iraq. He was driving a tank that was struck by an improvised explosive device. A 2004 graduate of Swampscott High School, Raymond, 20, is the first soldier from the town to be killed in a war since Vietnam.

He was a member of the 1st Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team based at Ford Hood, Texas.

He was remembered yesterday in Swampscott as a sweet, respectful and well-liked kid who grew into a man after joining the Army.

"He loved what he was doing. He loved the Army. He loved his country," said Dunnigan, a classmate of Raymond's who is himself a Navy veteran of the Iraq war.

Raymond is a product of Hadley Elementary School and Swampscott Middle School. He played lacrosse in high school. And he served for eight years, right up until he graduated, as an altar boy at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.

An only child, Raymond was close to his mother, Jaclyn. The pair were best friends, Dunnigan said. Struggling with their loss, Raymond's family declined to comment yesterday.

"(Jaclyn) was unbelievably proud of her son," said police Detective Jim Schultz, who is also the town's veterans' agent. When Jared came home over the summer following a six-month stint in Iraq, his mom made sure the electronic sign at the town line welcomed him.

Raymond wanted to join the Boston police force. He planned to attend the University of Massachusetts and major in criminal justice, Schultz said.

"Jared wasn't a gung ho, in-your-face type of kid," said Martha Kelleher, the assistant principal at Swampscott High School whose son, Kevin, was in the same class as Raymond. "He was a quiet one. And you have to really respect that he made that decision to serve his country."

She said Raymond's death has deeply affected members of what was a close-knit class.

"Death is something that shouldn't be touching their lives," Kelleher said.

Swampscott, a town of 14,700 people, has a proud tradition of military service. Raymond was one of at least six students from the Class of 2004 who joined the military. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks affected Raymond and his classmates in a life-changing way.

"It sparked a patriotism in them that I have not seen in a long time," said Lynn Wiedenroth, mother of Raymond's best friend, Jarred.

"It's heartbreaking to lose anybody, but his situation is particularly heartbreaking given that this young man, from all accounts, was a wonderful person who committed his life to the core values this country was founded on," said Superintendent Matthew Malone, a former Marine and veteran of the Gulf War.

The last time they talked, Dunnigan told Raymond not to worry, that they would be reunited when Raymond came home for Christmas. Now, he's trying to cope with the loss of his friend, whom he called a hero.

"You got to pick up. You got to keep on trucking," said Dunnigan, whose twin brother, Mike, is in the Air Force.

Raymond's death hit close to home.

"When you're in the military, it's one of those things that could possibly happen. But you don't really think about it. You kind of say, 'When it's my time, it's my time. God does his thing.'" Dunnigan said.

"(God) took a good one, though."

The town will work with Raymond's family to plan an appropriate way to remember him, according to Schultz.

"I hope that people from all walks of life turn out to honor Jared," he said.