BETHEL - Tyler Smith and Keith Walley graduated from high school together, joined the U.S. Army, served at the same base in Iraq, and planned to come home to Bethel together.

That last goal vanished when Pvt. Smith, 22, of Bethel, died Friday after an attack on Forward Operating Base Falcon outside of Baghdad, the same base where his friend Spc. Walley is stationed. Both had been serving as combat engineers there since last fall.

Walley heard the news of his friend's death as he returned from a mission Friday, his mother, Stephanie Bragdon of Bethel, said in a phone interview Tuesday evening.

"He knew the minute he came back (to the base). He was out on a mission. I called him right away. I just needed to hear his voice," Bragdon said. "He said, 'We planned on coming home together and showing everyone that we made it.' They were proud to go to Iraq."

Bragdon said Smith, Walley and a third "best friend," Billy Pilgrim, did everything together.

"They graduated from high school together and worked off and on doing different jobs trying to figure out what they wanted to do with their lives. They started talking to Army recruiters," she said.

Pilgrim decided the Army was not for him, she said, but Smith and Walley signed up.

They left for basic and advanced training in Missouri the day after Christmas three years ago and returned to Maine last April for two weeks before reporting for duty at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

Last fall, "They left within a week of each other" for Iraq, she said.

Reached by phone at his home in Florida on Tuesday night, Pilgrim described Smith as a good loyal person who was always ready to have a good time.

"He was a really exciting person to be with. Whatever we were doing, it was fun," he said.

"I love him. I believe he's in a better place," Pilgrim said.

Bragdon said she has been in touch with Smith's parents Martin and Wendy Smith, who live on East Bethel Road. She said funeral arrangements have not been completed because they are waiting for the return of Smith's body.

Smith attended Leavitt Area High School in Turner his freshman and sophomore years, and half his junior year before transferring to Telstar, where he graduated in 2004.

Last summer, he married his high school sweetheart, Heather Bolstridge, according to New England Cable News' Web site. Walley and Pilgrim attending the ceremony.

Heather is living at Fort Stewart in Georgia, Bragdon said.

Telstar Principal Theodore Davis said Tuesday that Heather graduated in 2006 and played on the field hockey team. Her parents, David and Karen Bolstridge, reside in the Rockland area, he added.

The school principal said Smith was remembered as a likable kid.

"He had leadership qualities," he said, and was presented an award during his junior year.

"We have an outdoor challenge class, kind of an outward bound program," Davis said, with activities such as whitewater rafting and first aid courses. "The kids respected him as sort of a daredevil."

Telstar's dean of students, Charles Raymond, remembered Tyler Smith as a "straight-shooter" who was fun-loving but responsible. "He was a leader among his peers," Raymond said. He excelled in industrial arts, had worked with his father in construction and was very knowledgeable about that field, the school official said.

Principal Davis said the school has social workers and counselors available for those who feel the need to talk about Smith's death.

Smith was the 31st soldier with ties to Maine to die in Iraq, NECN reported. He sustained wounds when the base received indirect fire, the U.S. Defense Department said in a statement. The Army would not elaborate on the circumstances, but a spokesman said indirect fire typically describes a mortar or rocket attack.

Smith was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.

A spokesman at Fort Stewart, Ga., said Smith joined the Army in December 2005 and arrived in Iraq around the end of November.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.