Army Pfc. Raymond L. Henry, 21, Anaheim; Killed by Roadside Bomb

Here is what was lost April 25 when a roadside bomb exploded beside a Humvee patrolling the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing Army Pfc. Raymond L. Henry, 21:

A big smile, a big heart, a big appetite, a big soul. The best of friends and the sweetest of sons. A brave soldier who stood a little straighter every time he donned his uniform. A young man, far from home, who found street patrol in war-torn Iraq a terrifying enterprise but did his best to shield his loved ones.

“When he was here, he made us feel so good, like nothing like this was going to happen,” said John Perrot, a high school basketball coach in Garden Grove who was like a second father to Henry. “He put us at ease. He was proud to wear that uniform, and he wasn’t afraid to die.”

But sometimes, when Henry called his closest friend back home, the buddy he met in freshman math class, he’d confide the things that tore him apart: “He would just say it’s just so rough over there, seeing the abandoned kids and the dead animals all over the place ... getting shot at,” said John Perrot Jr., 20.

Regardless of his private fears, Henry’s public face almost always wore a smile. First Lt. Nicholas Sikes, Henry’s platoon leader in Iraq, remembers the young soldier as a hard worker and a hard player, a whiz on the basketball court and a dedicated infantryman.

“He was always an outstanding soldier,” said Sikes, who is using the last few days of his leave from Iraq to attend Henry’s funeral in Long Beach and then escort the young soldier’s body to Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City for burial Monday.

Henry “was always seeking to learn and trying to do the best he could with whatever he was asked to do,” Sikes said. “He was just always the guy who looked to the positive of things, always wanting to do the right thing.”

Henry was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Ft. Wainwright, Alaska. His unit ran daily patrols in the streets of Mosul and helped train Iraqi troops.

One evening, Sikes recalled, members of the unit were invited to eat dinner with their Iraqi army colleagues. Sikes knew he had to pick carefully, given the differences between American and Iraqi cuisines and the often guarded food preferences of young soldiers.

“I was looking for a couple of guys willing to eat anything,” said Sikes, who immediately thought of the tall, hungry, adventurous soldier. Henry joined him at the dinner and did himself proud. “He was always willing to volunteer and try new things.”

Raymond Lamar Henry was born Jan. 26, 1985, in Bellflower, six weeks early and weighing a scant 3 pounds. An accomplished basketball player, he graduated from Anaheim’s Western High School in 2003, attended Santa Ana College and dreamed of being a firefighter.

“He came home one day and said, ‘Well, you know, I was talking to a couple of my professors, and they said there was a long list for firefighters,’ ” said his mother, Willietta Robinson of Stanton. “ ‘They said the only way I could be a firefighter without being on the list is joining the military....’ A while later, he made me a phone call on my cellphone, and said, ‘I’m about to sign the contract for the military.’ ”

Robinson begged her only child to talk to her first: “I said, ‘Raymond, I don’t object to you going into the military. I object to you going at this time.’ ”

That was in late 2004. A few weeks later, he officially signed up, and in January 2005 he was off to Ft. Benning, Ga., for basic training. His next stop was Alaska, where he marveled at being just miles from the North Pole. Then he went on to Kuwait and eventually Iraq.

Henry loved hip-hop music, text messaging, video games and flashy cars. Someday, he told Perrot, he would buy a Cadillac Escalade or GMC Yukon with the money he earned fighting in Iraq. “He would always say, ‘I can’t wait for that truck,’ ” his friend said. “It kept him going.”

Henry’s favorite basketball player was LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. But he was so proud of his home state that he went out of his way to wear Dodger caps as often as possible. When he was home on leave in February, Henry bought a new royal blue number to take back to Iraq. “He was over there in his hat representing L.A.,” Perrot said. “Even in Alaska, he loved wearing those Dodger hats.”

Perrot said he will remember Henry as the big brother who was always there for him, the guy who got his first job at Knott’s Berry Farm in 2001 and then turned around and helped Perrot get hired. When he was home on leave, Henry would buy flowers for his mom and for Perrot’s mother too.

“I was his second family, and he was mine,” Perrot said. “He’d always tell me, ‘You’ve got to take care of my Mom. Make sure she’s OK....’ My heart just feels empty. I just feel like something’s missing, not being able to text him or call him ever.”

Robinson said she is astounded by the outpouring of kindness and grief from her son’s friends and colleagues since hearing of his death, from the calls and e-mails, the offers of help, the shared stories.

“One girl summed it up best,” Robinson said. “She said, ‘For those who didn’t know Raymond, they missed out.’ That is so accurate.... I want to go on. But I don’t know, do I even have a purpose anymore? It’s hard, it’s hard, it’s hard.”

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U.S. military deaths reported last week in Iraq by the Department of Defense are on Page B16.

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War casualties

Total deaths* as of May 5, 2006

* In and around Iraq: 2,415

* In and around Afghanistan: 224

* Other locations: 57

Source: U.S. Department of Defense

* Includes military and civilian personnel killed in action and nonhostile circumstances