A local soldier is being remembered by friends, family, and the community.

Private First Class Kevin Thomson was laid to rest Saturday.

The 22-year-old Reno man was killed serving in Afghanistan on October 3rd.

“Today I think everybody realized Kevin was a hero. I knew this the first couple days I met him,” says Michael Obi, a long-time friend of Thomson.

Hero -- it's the way those who knew Kevin Thomson referred to him over and over again.

His parents are grieving the loss of the remarkable young man at a service in Reno.

At the Northern Nevada Veteran's Cemetery in Fernley, Thomson was laid to rest. The flag was folded and given to his family.
Thomson's friends say it was his dream to serve and he even earned his G.E.D to be able to do it.

Jamie Warren knew Thomson and remembered him today. “It was of his own free will that he wanted to do this because he wanted to do this, this is something that burned in him,” Warren says.

And Thomson made the ultimate sacrifice. He was killed in an extremely intense attack on an outpost.

Sue Tedesco says her grandson was also involved in the fight.

“I didn't get a phone call until after it was over and it was just like first there was just a fear and then there's the crying because it's over and he's safe, and then you just feel the heart-break for the eight guys that they lost,” Tedesco says.

Thomson is being remembered by those close to him as a jokester and dedicated friend, but also a soldier who not only wanted to serve, but to serve on the front-lines.

“He wanted to be able to hold his head high and say, ‘you know what, at the end of the day I was the one in front leading everybody, and I wasn't afraid,’” says Obi. “Like I tell people, Kevin, he wasn't afraid to die, he was afraid of not ever living.”