As Soldier Dies in Iraq, Father Loses 'Best Friend'

"He was a good, hardworking kid," Wilderman said last night. "He was one of our cadet leaders."

"He was the best kid anybody could ask for," a family friend said.

"His father loved him very much, and he loved his father very much," said the friend, who declined to be identified by name. "His father was proud of him every day of his life, and he is going to miss him tremendously."

Washington Post reporter Tamara Jones encountered the soldier in Afghanistan at the end of 2004, when Cauthorn, then 19, was a private first class. At the time, he had been there for nine months.

Cauthorn indicated to Jones that his Afghanistan assignment had lacked danger and was "great, if you like riding round in a damn Humvee all day."

He told her that he was cheered by letters sent by school classes that had adopted him on the AnySoldier.com Web site. To a student who asked about his favorite animal, he wrote: "I like penguins."

Cauthorn was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division based at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.

His father said he intended to have his son's body cremated. Then, he said, he plans to make the cross-country ride his son never made "and take him with me."