Spc. Jay Cajimat still had his high school days ahead of him when the world changed on Sept. 11, 2001. It was on the day of the terrorist attacks on America that Cajimat decided to join the U.S. Army when he was old enough.

Cajimat, 20, was killed on April 6, 2007, in Baghdad, Iraq, when a roadside bomb exploded near the vehicle he was aboard during combat operations. Cajimat was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley.

Cajimat was born in Manila, Philippines, and moved with his parents to Maui, Hawaii, when he was just three years old. He was a 2005 graduate of Lahainaluna High School in Hawaii. Two months later he joined the Army and attended basic training and advanced individual training at Fort Benning, Ga.

On Feb. 6, 2006, he was assigned to Charlie Company 2-16 Infantry Battalion, and was later reassigned to Alpha Company as an ammunition bearer during the unit's rotation in November of 2006 at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. He deployed with his unit to Iraq in February of this year.

On the Legacy.com Internet web site, both family and friends paid tribute to Cajimat.

His cousin, Renz Cajimat, Anchorage, Alaska., wrote: "You didn't know how proud we are. To you, a true hero. We love you so much and you will be forever in our heart."

A friend, Charles Uahinui, Lahaina, Hawaii, said Cajimat ''will always be remembered, not just for the sacrifice you made but for the great person that you are."

Lee Laquihon, a U.S. Air Force retiree living in Honolulu, Hawaii, wrote: "The Hawaiian cry of anguish goes all over the land ... Auew! Auew! Another of Hawaii's sons has fallen."

The McKee family of Fir Island, Wash., said the soldier ''has done what few will ever do — make their life (and death) stand for something — to try to improve the lives of others by putting themselves in grave danger."

Cajimat was buried in the Veterans Cemetery in Makawao, Hawaii.

Awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal and the Global War on Terror Service Medal.

Cajimat is survived by his parents, Dionie and Lilibeth Cajimat, and three sisters, Kaya, LC and LJ.