SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – David Babineau was supposed to be discharged from the Army in late May, come home and give his 2-year-old son his first haircut.

On Saturday morning, the boy, Dominic Babineau, ran around at his father’s memorial service in Springfield, his fine blond hair down to his shoulders.

Spc. David Babineau, 25, was one of three soldiers killed in Iraq on June 15 as they guarded a checkpoint in Yusufiyah, outside Baghdad. Babineau was shot in his Humvee while the other two soldiers – Pfc. Kristian Menchaca of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker of Madras, Ore. – were kidnapped and later found beheaded.

Babineau was buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday and was honored at a memorial service in Springfield on Saturday morning. About 200 people attended the short service at American Legion Post 277.

Joshua Calkins, Babineau’s cousin and close friend, said Babineau joined the military to get out of Springfield and see the world.

“I don’t think it was his big dream but he saw it was a way to an adventure,” Calkins, 25, said.

Calkins’ mother, Linda Calkins, recalled Babineau’s deadpan humor. “He would kid with you and you wouldn’t know if he was serious. You would have to look in his eyes.” When they sparkled back, you knew he was joking, she said.

Babineau’s father, Paul Babineau, said that his son joined the military in 1998 as a way to see the world and then reenlisted after Sept. 11, 2001.

“David wasn’t looking to be a general or anything else,” Paul Babineau said in reference to a prediction his son made that he would be a five-star general someday.

What David wanted, Paul Babineau said, was to get out of the Army, go to college and take care of his family.

As Paul Babineau spoke he held Dominic, who was sucking on a teal pacifier that had a drawing of a yellow star with a smiley face in it. His father’s Bronze Start was pinned on his small black vest.

David Babineau also left another son, Donovan, 4, a stepdaughter, Samantha, 8, and his wife, Rondi, 29.

After the service, Babineau’s 16-year-old cousin, Jeremy LaCourse, sat with his head in his hands. He remembered playing baseball, basketball and freeze tag with his older cousin, and said he wants to follow Babineau’s footsteps and join the Army.

“I want to be a hero just like he is,” he said. “I want people to look up to me like they look up to him.”